Tsuna to Italy
by Kiwi Erin
Summary: When Tsuna isn't woken by a mallet one morning, he thinks he's having a good day. 3 hours later, he's on a flight to Italy, with no luggage, no sense of Italian, and a cranky Varia leader next to him who will be supervising his training. Ho, crap. 27X27 B26 26B
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Woooohooooooo! This is my first multi-chaptered fic in this fandom! It issss X27, yesyes. I hope you'll enjoy it :D. I promise nothing on update-speed.

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I do own the plot and story :P.

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><p><span>Tsuna To Italy<span>**  
><strong>

Chapter 1

Tsuna yawned and rubbed his caramel eyes sleepily, lazily stretching his sleep-stiffened limbs underneath his cotton covers. Surprisingly, he had been woken by the warm sunlight on his face instead of a swift kick to the head this morning. Soft, orangey light streamed in through his closed window, highlighting the pages of the textbooks he'd abandoned on the floor in favour of sleep last night. As usual, his vibrant green carpet was cluttered with all sorts of stuff, which would probably pose a bit of a problem for him when he'd try to navigate to the bathroom later. For now though, the young mafia boss trainee enjoyed the rare moment of relaxation. Snuggling deeper into his warm blue cocoon, Tsuna felt himself relax for the first time in months. His drowsy thoughts went to the people he'd been spending the past few rowdy months of his life with. A genuinely happy smile spread over his face when images of his new friends and family past through his mind. He really loved them, he thought to himself as he turned on his side, staring into his brightly coloured, not-so-very-tidy room.

A great yawn stretched his jaw wide and he wondered what time it was. Had Reborn decided to forgo training today? It didn't seem very likely.

Tsuna tried to take this unexpected chance to sleep in for a little bit, but the notion of Reborn apparently swept all slumber from his mind. The hitman's impossible routine had messed with his biological clock.

Sighing when he realized that he would not be able to doze off again, the brunet scratched his unruly head of hair as he sat up on his soft mattress. It creaked under his weight when he bounced a little to gain momentum for his daring jump out of bed. As long as he avoided the sharp looking Fs on those old English-tests he should be fine. With a rare, giddy feeling Tsuna launched himself off his bed and onto his feet, curling his toes into his plush carpet. Astonished at this achievement (he didn't even fall over!), Tsuna began to feel better and better about the coming Saturday. His teddybear-patterned PJ's lay crumpled in a corner until he discovered the soft, comfy garments and pulled them on leisurely. If Reborn still wasn't here, he may as well take it easy.

He paused when a thought popped into his mind: perhaps Reborn was absent because he was in trouble?

He discarded the notion almost immediately. Tsuna was convinced the crazy infant was invincible.

His reflection blinked at him and smiled while he combed his fingers through his unruly mop of brown hair. It was futile, he knew, but it felt nice, so whatever.

On Tsuna's trek down the stairs his stomach decided to join the muted conversation he heard going on in the kitchen. Scratching his growling tummy, the brunet wondered curiously about the lack of childlike laughter and exploding pink grenades. The smooth floorboards of the hall felt nice against the soles of his bare feet when he reached the bottom of the stairs. A pair of heavy leather boots, caked with mud, stood on the grey mat next to his own pristine white sneakers. That was odd, Tsuna mused. Who would be visiting at this hour? He got a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach as the large boots almost looked like they were looming over his far smaller footwear. Huh. The young mafia boss shook off the feeling, not wanting to ruin his unusually good mood. So what if there was a visitor? They probably weren't here for him anyway.

He padded across the hall and poked his head around the doorway, trying to catch a glimpse of the mysterious guest before walking into the homey tiled kitchen. A gruff baritone reached his ears, accompanied by the familiar tinkle of his mother's soprano and snippets of Reborn's deceptively infantile voice. The tingling feeling that had rested in the back of his mind since he had spotted those strangely familiar boots became more prominent. His caramel browns travelled from the kitchen's scrubbed floor to the hem of a black suit jacket hanging from one of the straight-backed wooden kitchen chairs. His eyes grew wider as they reached choppy black hair, zooming out to take in the entire figure lounging comfortably on unyielding wood, the eerily familiar red and brown of a unique hair ornament catching his attention.

Tsuna felt his heartbeat increase exponentially, stumbling forward into the sparklingly clean kitchen in shock. The person sitting in his home as if he owned the place turned his head at his squeaky gasp.

A crimson gaze burned into Tsuna's fearful retinas, looking disdainful as ever. Time seemed to screech to a halt as silence rang for a moment, then Nana spoke up.

'Good morning, Tsu-kun! Have you slept well?' She smiled brightly at him, unaware of the extreme danger she was in. 'Look, we have a guest over for breakfast! Such a charming young man~.'

All air disappeared from Tsuna's body, but his fight or flee instincts kicked in before his mind had the chance to black out. The walls spun around him as he turned and then he dashed back up the stairs, cheeks aflame with embarrassment as roaring laughter followed him up to his bedroom. The poor door closed behind Tsuna with a harsh bang as he lunged for cover. He continued to take in squeaky breaths while he actually went as far as to crawl under his bed, pulling his vibrant blue covers along with him. Curling up in them, he tried to calm his screaming thoughts.

_**What**__ is __**Xanxus-san**__ doing here?_

The relative darkness under his bed was comforting: if he closed his eyes he could pretend he was still waking up after a horrible nightmare.

But certain thoughts wouldn't be quieted so easily. Like _Oh no, he saw me in my pyjamas!_ and _Hiieee, Xanxus-san is still so scary!_ and a continuous mental shriek of embarrassed anguish. The one thought the brunet tried especially hard to bash away while in his fortified hide-out, was _…sigh…Xanxus-san is still really hands- HIIIEEEEEE!_ This was absolutely not the right time and place to think about that, with the trigger-happy assassin (hah! Which one? There where two madmen now!) one floor down, _in his home's kitchen_. It was too surreal.

Why now? Why _ever_? What was going on in Reborn's crazy head, for Tsuna was certain the hitman had planned this new and unusual "_training_" as he would surely call it. The harassed brunet suddenly froze.

Oh no. _Oh_ no. Ohno,ohno,ohno,ohno,_ohno_!

Tsuna clutched the covers and pressed them to his face, petrified when he recalled a conversation he'd stupidly had with his Spartan tutor not a week ago. He sat up quickly, forgetting that he was 2 inches from his slatted and crashing his forehead into it. Hissing in pain, he crawled into himself once more.

That conversation…

Aagh, he knew he shouldn't have confided in Reborn! Tsuna felt his wide eyes starting to prick, his heart skipping a beat before proving it hadn't yet tried out the little red PANIC button and going into overdrive. _What if Reborn had told him?_

Heavy footfalls stomped up the now creaking staircase (it hadn't even done that during Dino's repeated accidents on it, but the poor hardwood was no match for what was now thundering up to Tsuna's room) and Tsuna's heart screeched to a halt in his chest.

Nononononononono! He wasn't ready to face him yet! …or ever!

Tsuna crawled closer to the wall, backwards, trying desperately to hide. The already abused door crashed open and slammed into the wall with a deafening crack. Tsuna held his breath and kept as still as he possibly could. He felt the strong urge to giggle hysterically when he spotted white socks with blue squiggly lines on it.

Then, to his horror, Xanxus' heels lifted off his cluttered carpet until all his weight was on the socked balls of his feet and it was clear that Tsuna's doom was near.

Squeaking in amplified terror when large fingers curled around the edge of his bed, Tsuna tried to mummify himself in his stretching covers. He could _feel_ those fingers coming closer to his back, but the mean_mean_ wall wouldn't let him hide in it.

A strong hand clamped down on the wrapped up ball of Tuna and dragged him out from under the bed, struggling and yelling muffled pleas to be released. Ringed fingers clutched the edge of a blue cover and tugged on it impatiently, Tsuna tumbling out of the soft depths even though he desperately tried to hold on. His backside landed on the floor painfully, narrowly avoiding one of the pink grenades Lambo had left there. Fuelled by his embarrassment (_why_ the soft teddy pj's?), the brunet tried to dive away from the leather clad legs he could feel against his shoulders (_**hiiiieeeee!**_) but before he got anywhere with that, the Varia leader caught him by the scruff of his neck.

'Stop thrashing around, runt.'

Tsuna stilled at the surprisingly _non_-wrathful,covertly amused tone of Xanxus' voice. The grip on his neck was firm yet oddly _un_hurtful, making Tsuna wonder. When did Xanxus stop trying to kill and/or permanently damage him (in whatever order) on sight?

'X-Xanxus-san?'

The man grunted and yanked him up, ignoring Tsuna's renewed squirming while he carried him down the stairs, back to the kitchen. Tsuna had no idea how Xanxus could make so much noise on the poor creaking wood on soft, socked feet. It was astounding.

The scared brunet didn't have a lot of time to consider this unwanted turn of events during that short journey. The fact that he was hanging from only _one_ of Xanxus' hands, jostled roughly from side to side made his cheeks burn. Xanxus was really strong… and he was really embarrassed.

Arriving in the kitchen, Tsuna was thrown onto the table since there was no chair ready to catch the involuntary projectile. Why Xanxus didn't just throw him on the floor…probably had something to do with Reborn, who stood next to Tsuna's head on the table and nodded his approval.

From the moment his tutor arrived, everything inexplicable in his live _always_ had something to do with Reborn.

Tsuna quickly sat up, rubbing his sore back and glancing nervously from one crazy assassin to the other. Nana had mysteriously disappeared and he worried for her briefly, until he realised Reborn probably just sent her away to do some shopping with the kids. Unlike his attitude towards _him_, the hitman was always courteous to the one who cooked him his meals.

'Silly Tsuna, don't run from your family.'

The young heir did not agree, that sentiment only growing stronger as Xanxus plonked back down in the chair he was occupying before. Tsuna felt as though he was to be breakfast for the two (insane) mafiosi, sitting awkwardly on the kitchen table. He didn't dare to try to get off, as he would have to turn his back on at least one of them while attempting to achieve such a feat.

So he just sat there, thoroughly creeped out by the intense stares boring into him. Reborn was doing it purposefully, Tsuna knew.

Reborn finally broke the silence and Tsuna sighed in relief when at least one of the stares turned away.

'Xanxus and I were discussing your trip to Italy before you came barging in. He has agreed to make sure you don't get yourself killed on the way there.'

'What!'

Tsuna almost fell of the simple wooden table at the newsflash his tutor presented to him with an airy smile. His jaw dropped all the way to his teddy-patterned pyjama top, caramel eyes widening as he recognized the symptoms of Phase I - Reborn Logic. Meaning that this had to do with his training as a mafia boss. And he was convinced he was not going to like it.

'Wh-Wh-Whaaaaat? Reborn, what would I want to do in _Italy_!' He shrieked. He was promptly kicked in the head.

'It's not about what you want. You're going to learn the ins and outs of being the boss of Vongola. It's about time.'

Reborn smirked and tilted his head, the shadow of his fedora hiding his beady eyes, and answered the question on Tsuna's mind.

'You'll stay there for as long as I deem necessary.'

Tsuna sat in a stunned stupor. His wide caramel eyes searched his infant tutor's unreadable features for signs of a grin or a superior smirk that told him he had just been successfully pranked. When he found no such sign, he felt positively faint. Reborn's airy smile remained unaffected by his poor student's horror as he delivered the final blow to the teen's suffering mind.

'There you will commence your training with Xanxus. He will be able to teach you more about how to wield the Sky flame and its capacities than I.'

Tsuna stared, with his mouth gaping, at his supposed subordinate to find an odd mixture of a menacing glare and an amused smirk at Tsuna's expense on his scarred, handsome features. Wide eyes held a tentative questioning look and the Varia leader slowly nodded (with a fair amount of reluctance, leaving Tsuna to think that however this had happened, he had _not_ volunteered), his expression unchanged.

'You better fucking pay attention to what I say, runt. I'm not going to repeat myself.'

It dawned on Tsuna's mind that he really _was_ going to Italy, with Xanxus, and Xanxus was going to be supervising his training there. Xanxus. In Italy. _Scary-ass_ _Xanxus_.

Tendrils of foggy black swept into his line of vision and his body thumped onto the kitchen table, passed out.

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><p>'He took it better than I expected.'<p>

Reborn supplied from his perch on a teddy patterned tummy. The hitman placed his teacup on Tsuna's thigh after taking a sip, directly next to leather clad calves. Xanxus grunted his agreement, his eyes closed as he rested with crossed arms and legs, draped over the straight-backed chair and the unconscious body of his boss-to be.

'If he doesn't wake up soon, you'll have to drag him to the airport. Your flight is scheduled to depart in 3 hours.'

Xanxus shrugged, careless.

'Fine with me. Luggage?'

Reborn smirked, hiding it in his cup as he took another sophisticated sip.

'He won't be needing any.'

At that, the Varia leader raised an eyebrow, but he didn't question further. No luggage meant less time wasted in customs and no shit to drag along with the unconscious teenager. Tsuna's unconscious body twitched, as though his subconscious was picking up on Reborn's scheming vibes. Reborn suddenly looked up, pinning Xanxus with a beady-eyed stare and a small knowing smirk. Xanxus quirked an eyebrow.

The next moment, the front door opened with a small creak, definitely being handled with more care than the door to Tsuna's bedroom had been.

'Tadaima!' The light voice of Tsuna's mother rang through the hallway brightly and childlike laughter could be heard coming from the front yard. The effect on the people in the kitchen was immediate:

Xanxus shot up in his chair, quickly putting his feet on the floor so that Nana wouldn't catch him reclining on her son. One large hand raked through dark tresses before it straightened out the collar of his white blouse. The Varia leader sat up a bit straighter, brushing some crumbs of toast off Tsuna's teddy-patterned pant leg as an afterthought.

'Okaeri.' He offered gruffly as the smiling woman stepped into the kitchen. He pointedly ignored Reborn's amused chuckle at his behaviour. The hitman didn't bother to get off Tsuna's stomach, finishing his tea and resting the cup on his own lap.

Nana carried two bulging shopping bags to the counter, dropping them onto the floor with a relieved sigh before turning back to the mafiosi. Xanxus was halfway into an awkward kind of getting up, contemplating whether he should offer his help to the lady of the house, when Tsuna's mother gently shooed him back into his chair. She seemed to still not have spotted her son in a dead-faint.

'Oh, don't bother, I'll get to those in a moment. Why don't you boys tell me why Tsu-kun is passed out on the kitchen table while I take a breather, hmm?'

Or so he thought.

Reborn instantly hopped off his perch, onto the floor and pulled out one of the chairs by its leg, offering it to Nana with a flourish. The woman took it with a girlish giggle and placed her hands on either side of her son's head, gently cupping it. Xanxus swore he saw her pointer finger checking the brat for a pulse while slowly stroking his brown tresses and his eyes narrowed minutely. That was when he remembered, she was _Iemetsu's_ wife. He wondered just how oblivious she really was.

Reborn hopped back onto the table's surface, not even onto his poor student's body this time.

'I just told Tsuna about his trip to Italy. He was very upset about having to miss you for an undetermined amount of time, maman.'

Tsuna's mother smiled brightly. 'I see, poor Tsu-kun. But, he'll have to grow up some time, I know.' She sighed, an adoring look on her face as she looked at her son. 'Something every mother tries to deny, of course!' Her clear laughter rang through the kitchen. She then looked at Xanxus, who sat up even straighter at her scrutiny. Her warm eyes passed over his frame with surprising sharpness, before she looked him straight in the eye and smiled openly, sparklingly at him, the look completely vanished.

'I'm so glad you're going to help Tsu-kun get to his grandfather safely! Thank you so much, Xanxus-kun!'

She stood up to bow at him and Xanxus felt particularly uncomfortable, especially given the fact that up until that moment, he would've had absolutely no qualms about ditching the brat in some gutter the moment he stepped foot in Italy. With wide, honey-brown eyes looking at him so adoringly, almost giving him the exact same look she had been sending Tsuna a few seconds ago, and the sincere gratitude the woman was adamant about showering him with even hours after he'd caved, Xanxus suddenly felt a little sick.

In hindsight, that was probably exactly what the woman was going for. The Italian's jaw ticked as he realized he had just let himself be suckered into protecting the useless brat for his entire fucking stay in Italy. He looked away from the manipulative being who's home he was sitting in and sourly studied the living room.

Xanxus, as mostly all Italians, knew not to mess with housewives. And the fact that he had seen this woman juggle two toddlers, one world's greatest hitman, the Poison Scorpion _and_ himself with effortless ease, grace and that constant heartfelt smile this morning didn't have anything to do with that.

Xanxus ferociously stomped down on the tiny chunk of respect growing for the woman, clearing his throat before dredging up a painfully awkward response to her gratitude.

'It's no problem, ma'am.'

He didn't miss the smug smirk on the infant's face as he forced out the completely untrue statement, but refrained from retaliating. The woman was still there and he had found out this morning that she was not fond of anything remotely child-like being manhandled when he attempted to drop-kick that annoying cow-brat back to its home-base in Italy for slapping him in the face with a sticky, half-eaten lollipop.

That was the moment he found out first hand why Nono never messed with the females they encountered in the famiglia.

Tsuna's mother had looked at him squarely right as the steel, mud-caked toe of his boot was about to connect with the brat's cow-printed behind and this _chill_ went down his spine. The look in those disappointed honey-brown eyes had frozen his entire body, somehow conveying to Xanxus that the mere fact that he could even _think_ of doing something like that to the brat made him a _very_, _bad_, _boy_. The sheer shock of being affected as such by the mother was enough to make him cancel those plans without even consciously thinking about it, his boot thudding onto the front steps while the brat ran of cackling. The woman's eyes had instantly turned warm and accepting and _forgiving_, making him feel like now he was a _very good boy_ again (because she somehow radiated the belief that he had been one before the dropkicking incident), despite the fact that the first thing the woman had ever seen him do was try to assault her 5-year old kid.

The woman was fucking _terrifying_.

Xanxus was convinced the arcobaleno knew and schemed with her on a regular basis. Heck, she was probably the mastermind behind Vongola's interrogation department, the way she persuaded even him to do whatever without so much as saying a single word. The Varia leader wondered briefly whether he would have felt as terrorized by his own mother.

His boss' mother smiled at him warmly and went about putting all the groceries away, sparkles and flowers popping up in the air around her. Xanxus uncomfortably shifted and glanced at the unconscious teenager on the table in front of him, now in his care, and sighed deeply.

He pointedly ignored the nagging feeling of "shit is going to happen" at the sight of Reborn's scheming smirk.

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><p>Please review and tell me what you think, I appreciate criticism!<p>

'Till the next chapter!

-Dirkje


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: OMYGOD!

Much love to all the lovely people who reviewed! :D:D:D

HUGE AMOUNTS OF TEXT AHEAD! I don't reallyreally like this chapter, please bear with me for this one. I needed to get them through the flight and there were some things I wanted to mention. I could have done something completely different but I don't want to rewrite it AGAIN. Next chapter will be muchos better, lovely SPEAKING actually going on and such.

GUESS WHAT? 2 WHOLE LINES OF DIALOGUE! Wait, not even that. 1. So that doesn't count as a dialogue either. I hope you guys enjoy it still, I have some great ideas to be introduced in the next chapter, this is an A to B chappie. BEAR WITH ME PLS AND ENJOY! (capsrapeftw)

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

_How did __I end up in this situation?_

Tsuna's squeak was muffled as the, kind of tastelessly clothed, mountain of human flesh on his right shifted on its encumbered airplane seat, squashing him into the bulky dyed-blonde passenger on his left. The tenth boss of Vongola to-be sat cramped in between two overly large, possibly Italian men (Tsuna _had_ heard them speak, but his knowledge of Italian and all other languages except his own was such that he couldn't make out for the _life_ of him what was being shouted) with, from the looks of them,excessive diets.

To say Tsuna was uncomfortable was a gross understatement.

They were loud, so large that about half of his own plushy seat was available for _him_, seemingly ignorant to his existence, and uncomfortably smelly. Their body odours reminded him of people with an unhealthy preference for fast-food, who had just spent far too much time in sweltering heat. He had tried to just not breathe, but for obvious reasons that didn't work.

The dark-haired man pressed against his right roared something at his companion, who spat back enthusiastically and rather literally. Tsuna whimpered, trying his best to dodge the flying bodily fluids catapulted to and fro above him.

_What did I do to deserve this?_

Tsuna shielded his face with his hands and tried to sink away into his seat, making himself as small and unnoticeable as possible. It proved to be counterproductive, as the two immediately filled up the vacated inches.

Though he had expected his trip to Italy to be something he'd spend his future life pretending had never happened, this was not what he had expected from his first time flying. To think that when he woke up somewhat uncomfortably (slung over a certain someone's shoulder) from his semi-coma, he had actually _looked forward_ to flying and to sauntering through the airport.

Silly, silly Tsuna.

It was as though some greater power had whispered in his head, with a voice filled with malicious delight; _Ohhh, Tsunayoshi-kun, you will not enjoy the coming months of your life, kufufufu-_

Why he pictured it to be Mukuro's voice was not at all a mystery.

Amidst the raging tempest of wobbling flesh and badly aimed spit, Tsuna attempted to distract himself from his horror by going over his eventful trip from the waiting hall (specific location: Xanxus' shoulder) to the airplane (specific location: merged with two excessively large human beings on 3 airplane seats).

Waking up to remember his Tsuna-Italy ordeal had not been one of his more pleasant experiences. Xanxus had carelessly deposited him in one of the many, _many_ tiny metal chairs lined up in the waiting hall, in front of what Tsuna supposed was their gate. Even though the hall was ridiculously large (in Tsuna's opinion), it didn't feel spacious like he had expected at all, not even with the broad windows making up the far wall. Maybe because there were just too many people hastening from the gates on the right side to the expensive looking shops on the left. The seat he was dumped on looked exactly the same as all the others. They were especially rigid and kind of painful to sit on and the brunet had spent some time wondering, absentminded due to extreme nervousness at being practically on his own in an airport (someone who had been rather adamant about him being dead the last time they met did not count as a supervising adult in Tsuna's mind), how Xanxus was going to fit his large body into one of those. The Varia leader had unwittingly solved this mystery by plonking down three seats away from him and languidly spreading himself out over seven of them, large muddy boots rather pointedly stretched out in Tsuna's direction.

The Varia leader had without any further gestures or meagre amounts of care towards his _boss_ started napping. Not that he would call it napping to Xanxus' face, though. He had a feeling that term wouldn't be deemed masculine enough to let him live or something.

It wasn't long after that, that Tsuna realized that they were being given a rather wide berth by all the other travellers in the large waiting hall. When he looked over his shoulder, he noticed the same phenomenon going on behind them.

It took him a little longer to figure out that it was because Xanxus hadn't bothered to button-up his jacket, rather leaving it to hang open, proudly showing off his rather conspicuous X-guns on either side of his hips. Tsuna's wide, freaked-out eyes had spotted that he'd even laid the one on his right on his stomach, presumably because it was uncomfortably squashed in between the metal and his hipbone. Tsuna found the other option of Xanxus being completely aware and highly amused a very likely one, though, and suspected it was more a combination of both. The shocked throngs of people quickly passed by, some casting nervous glances at Tsuna's companion, others looking straight ahead as they practically ran past them, all obviously sharing the brunet's sentiment when it came to the older, criminal-looking man.

That was one thing Tsuna hadn't expected from his first visit to an airport.

There weren't even any security guards coming their way then, but he couldn't say he'd been disappointed. He didn't want to feel responsible for whatever mayhem Xanxus would cause if he felt bothered. (Or got exactly what he wanted. Tsuna didn't think it beyond the man to pick a fight in such a way.) It was just something Tsuna had come to accept in the short period of time he'd spent in the other's presence as one of the wondrous things that happened when that man was around. He got away with whatever he wanted to get away with, it was amazing. Tsuna didn't think it was his charm so much as his obvious desire to get an excuse to burn something spectacularly. People preferred not to get in the way of someone like that.

The neatly clothed lady at the check-in desk had received an eyeful of Xanxus' charm too, when the easily aggravated man had discovered exactly where he and his charge were to be seated. Apparently, Xanxus hadn't bothered to look at their boarding tickets the first time he'd gotten them from that same lady.

Somewhere during their wait in the aptly named waiting hall, Tsuna had almost slipped off his seat when an angered growl suddenly vibrated through the entire row of metal seats. Glancing fearfully to his left, palms of his hands long since nervously clammy, he'd seen something his heart would've had no problems doing without. Xanxus was sitting up, his legs splayeduncomfortably against the backrests of the metal chairs, and seemed about ready to incinerate two poor slips of paper when Tsuna shakily asked for the reason to this new bout of behaviour (not exactly in those terms though). He knew he shouldn't have, but he feared that if he did nothing he would suffer a heart attack from the unbearable tight feeling of stress building up in his chest.

Crimson eyes had glared at him for a split second before he was suddenly yanked off his seat and dragged back through the entire airport. Tsuna had been unconscious the first time through, so he didn't mind so much and took that chance to do some sightseeing instead of struggling(which would have been in vain anyway). He had gotten such an overload of shock that day that his mind was pleasantly emptied of worry, stocks all dried out, allowing him to take in the expensive looking shops in the few seconds it took his growling-under-his-breath companion to drag him past them. He'd been surprised when he was shoved onto a conveyor-belt in between two desks, hearing that lady he later found out to be Xanxus' newest victim squeak in surprise at the rough treatment he received. While he untangled himself from his limbs, the brunet tried to grasp the subject of the Varia leader's frustration.

As it had turned out, Xanxus and Tsuna got two separated seats. Tsuna was to sit almost at the front of the plane while the older male had a seat at the very last row in the back. The reason for Xanxus' complaints about the matter didn't become clear until much later, after he'd stomped off fuming when the frightened lady explained (while trying to take refuge behind her desk and Tsuna hadn't often felt as sorry for someone as he did in that moment) that there were no other seats available as the flight was fully booked.

Xanxus had loomed over him threateningly while he was at long last taking his seat in the airplane (shivering unpleasantly with the feeling of sharp eyes boring into the back of his head) and told him in a low, menacing voice that if Tsuna got into any trouble during the flight he would have his _hide_.

The realization (_thankyou_ hyper intuition) that Xanxus was annoyed because it would be more difficult to _protect_ him had left Tsuna shaking in his comfy blue airplane seat. It did occur to him that the Varia leader's sudden concern for his life had nothing to do with _his life_ and everything with orders and optional punishments from a certain hellish hitman and a certain ninth Vongola boss, but…

…he still had to fight a warm blush off his cheeks, feeling considerably silly about the bubbly feelings in his chest.

He had also wondered in a moment of mental idleness, if his hide would join Xanxus' raccoon tail in the choppy black hair and spent the next couple of minutes banishing the sickening mental image from his mind.

…

And that was it. After that it had been peaceful until he was joined by the two persons sitting on either side of him and nothing worth mentioning had happened apart from the enthusiastic spit-war over his head. And now that he didn't have those memories to distract himself with anymore… his focus regrettably returned to his predicament.

Tsuna's return to the present was sped up by the feeling of getting the life squeezed out of him. His admittedly very sociable neighbours had apparently felt the need to lean towards each other to shout more clearly into each other's faces and the not-that-lithe brunet was taking the brunt of that assault.

Indistinguishable noises burst forth from his gasping lips, cries for immediate evacuation that were heard by no-one. Sobbing mentally as his ribcage tried and failed to expand and draw in the oxygen he needed to survive, Tsuna wondered if this was the point where he should be seeing his life flashing before his eyes. All he could see was the powder blue and white of someone's chequered blouse.

_*sob* I do__n't wanna die! …I still wanted to eat real Italian pizza with Xanxus-san…_

That thought just felt completely right to him, no matter all the other things he could be regretting at this moment.

Just as stars started to pop up randomly in the young boss' line of vision, the pressure suddenly fell away from his mangled body and a wheezing breath was automatically sucked in through his pale lips. Dizzy from not enough oxygen to his brain, he didn't retaliate when he was yanked out of his seat roughly by a burning grip on his upper arm, mildly noting that he was pulled over an empty seat, lacking the person that had been quite present a moment before. He stumbled when his feet were supposed to carry his weight and registered a familiar irritated growl on his near-right. Blinking the colourful dots out of his vision, Tsuna craned his neck to look up at his saviour.

Glowing crimson ignored him completely as it pierced through Tsuna's previous neighbour, who stood stock-still a couple of feet from them. An irritated scowl painted the Varia leader's face and he unceremoniously shoved Tsuna ahead until the still disoriented teen reached the back of the plane, where another two quaking passengers stood in the narrow pathway. Before Tsuna had a change to ponder this he was shoved face first into the seat nearest to the window, the sound of a rustling leather jacket indicating that Xanxus sat down next to him.

When he finally managed to manoeuvre himself upright without pulling any muscles or kicking Xanxus in the face (oh the _horror_ if he had, he would be nothing but gory splatters across that little round window), Tsuna tried to relax before thinking about this welcome turn of events. He settled down comfortably, finally able to appreciate the firm cushions of the airplane chairs now that he could occupy one on his own and subtly glanced to his left.

Tsuna jerked away when he met a half-lidded, thoroughly pissed-off set of blazing eyes and promptly hit his head against the _solid_ plastic material of the wall. He tried to brush off the exasperated huff that followed his actions and courageously tried to meet the other's eyes again. After all, that sort of stunt couldn't be described as anything less than life-saving, and if Tsuna didn't thank the man properly his mom would kick his ass for not showing proper gratitude where it was due. No matter that she was halfway across the world by now, he just knew she'd somehow reach him. He wouldn't be surprised if Reborn had given her ways to reach Xanxus _and_ the Ninth, and he didn't want to entertain the possibility of either of those teaching him lessons on proper behaviour.

Not that he didn't _want_ to thank the scary man. He was just confident that Xanxus would take it as an opening to start pummelling him for being a nuisance. It was quite the contrary, actually. Tsuna looked away, aiming his gaze through the small window pane to hide the small, but conspicuous blush high on his cheeks.

He admired the robust(coughforcefulcough) ways of the Varia leader, always doing exactly what he set his mind to and not letting anything get in his way. They way he'd just pulled Tsuna out from there, without any visible effort on his part… He was so sure of himself, never second-guessing or hesitating, whereas Tsuna… he was always doubting himself, his own strengths and skills. Maybe it was no wonder that he gravitated towards the older male. The whole opposites attract thing and such.

Taking a deep breath and shaking off those thoughts, Tsuna let his uncertain caramels meet expectant rubies for hopefully the last time that hour and smiled shakily. A silly eyebrow was raised and it helped Tsuna relax. Somehow, those eyebrows were the only things about Xanxus' person that made him seem a little more like any other flawed mortal(Tsuna was aware that his opinion on Xanxus was a little… extreme. But… well. He just thought the guy was practically a god. Not his fault).

'U-Uhm… Th-thanks a lot, Xanxus-san.' He didn't realize he was leaning away from the inflammable male. Despite that, a hesitant bright smile accompanied his uncertain whisper.

Xanxus' look was indecipherable. No wait, it wasn't. It was just a formerly unknown level of exasperated annoyance.

Tsuna sweatdropped and shrank further away into the plane's wall, the grey metal armrest of his chair poking into the small of his back unpleasantly. Xanxus thankfully only tsk-ed and looked pointedly away, folding his arms over his chest and sliding further down in his seat, as far as the allotted space allowed his tall frame.

After a sufficient while of cautious sideways glances the tension slowly seeped from Tsuna's body. Deeming it save enough to do so, the young boss-trainee shifted and properly occupied his seat. The man next to him ignored him and continued what was probably another nap, the awkward atmosphere purposefully ignored along with his charge.

Tsuna made himself more comfortable, snuggled into his hoodie and stared out of the window. The scenery was captivating, whenever the clouds let up enough. Some minutes later, his eyelids started drooping and he willingly followed the Varia leader's example, drifting off to a calm sleep.

* * *

><p>AN: and then Xanxus molested him MUAHAHAAHAHAAAAA! *cough*. But not, sorry.

Keyword for next chapter: swimshorts. Yo~

Please tell me what you think! :D

-Dirkje


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Tsuna breathed in a heavy gulp of warm, Italian air as he stepped out onto the metal staircase leading from the plane's entrance down to Italy. The vast sky overhead was bright blue, little tufts of fluffy white dotting it as they went, offering no protection against the sun. Tsuna blinked rapidly against the glaring rays, squinting. In the distance, beyond the fences bordering the landing ground, tall trees with round crowns and bare trunkslined up along the asphalt roads. There weren't any buildings that indicated they had landed near a city, only a few low, flat ones, blindingly white in the afternoon sun, that were probably the Italian airport.

So this was Italy? The brunet wasn't sure if he liked it yet, but his head was too full of thoughts on what was happening and what was about to happen, so he couldn't really spare it much attention. Sleeping in his comfy plane chair unfortunately hadn't done anything to decrease the amount of incoming doom Tsuna sensed. Little butterflies circled around in his stomach, sharing his nervousness.

Hopefully, it wouldn't take too long to get to the Vongola base. At least, that was were he assumed they were going. Xanxus hadn't told him anything and even if the brunet hadn't fainted almost a day ago, he doubted Reborn would've told him anything useful.

The metal railing was warm against his palm while he carefully stepped down, already heated by the sun.

The metal contraption rang with the other passengers' hurriedfootsteps, but in that moment, the brunet (still a bit sleepy from his nap and the effects of jetlag) didn't really have enough focus to pay attention to anything around him. Tiny beads of sweat were already appearing at the back of his neck (and pretty much everywhere else) due to the sudden change in temperature between the airconditioned inside of the airplane and the hot afternoon sun in outdoors Italy, but he hardly noticed.

Xanxus had gone ahead to the exit without Tsuna doing so much as noticing (he'd been struggling with his belt, that had been fastened while he was sleeping and that for some reason was secured with a kind of unrelenting sailor's knot) and had subsequently reached the foot of the staircase long before the short teen even exited his _seat_.

The tall, proud figure of the Varia leader stood on solid paved ground with his hands shoved in his pockets impatiently, a few feet below Tsuna, his tan skin appearing bronze in the orange sunlight. The way the sun reflected in his red irises, making them shine with a deceptive warmth, made Tsuna's heart do a worrisome little flip-flop. A slight, hardly refreshing breeze ruffled short black tresses gently and played with the pinkish-red feathers behind the man's back as he stared ahead, looking disinterested and haughtily regal.

_Wow…_

Tsuna took one look at the handsome figure and stilled halfway down the steps, blushing lightly as he had to grasp onto the railing more firmly for support (he _refused_ to tumble down stairs where Xanxus could see him do it). Somehow, the man looked different from when he saw him in Japan, as though being in his home-land gave him some kind of confidence. More… natural, maybe. Which was weird, kind of, because Tsuna'd never thought Xanxus lacking of confidence.

_I guess that's the effect of __Xanxus-san's natural habitat … wow…_

The usual aura of superiority the man exuded was even more palpable now and people (wisely, in his opinion) gave the man the wide berth he required. The brunet shakily continued his journey down, eyes flicking to and fro the older male as he approached him warily. When Tsuna was still a few feet away from him, he whirled around and stalked towards the two powder blue busses parked near the plane, without a word or glance in his direction.

The plain, box-like buildings of the Italian airport were where he expected they were going to be dropped off. He didn't have a clue what airport this was, or what city they would go to from here, but it wouldn't have helped anyway. He was just gonna stick close to Xanxus and it should be alright. That guy could at least make himself understood around here, which was definitely something _he_ couldn't do. Tsuna still spoke very poor English, let alone that he could say anything in _Italian_ terms. He _had_ memorized by now some of the things Reborn liked to mutter under his breath when he was doing something spectacularly wrong, but those probably shouldn't be said in public.

The busses, built to be practically spacious and allow a large amount op standing passengers, were already pretty much packed when it was his turn to hop in, but he managed to squeeze his small frame into the masses of human. There was nothing non-human near for him to hold on to, so he did his best to brace himself against the floor. He never knew travelling was this cramped an experience.

Unable to see anything but his fellow passengers (he was notnot_not_ short!) and grateful that he didn't have anything with him that could get lost, stuck or left behind, the young boss-to-be resigned himself to people-watching (it actually was a lot more like midriff-watching, but he was notnot_not_ short. He had yet to have his growth-spurt, that's all!). Xanxus was nowhere to be seen, but on the same bus, so that was alright. Tsuna'd just find the man when they got off again.

A few seconds after that thought, someone disagreed with him.

To his right, the mass of people desperately trying to give themselves and each other some breathing space suddenly split like slices of Haru's favourite cake. A hand clamped down on Tsuna's wrist and he knew before he even looked at the person that it was his unwilling tutor, because _no-one else_ got people to make space for him were there was none like Xanxus did.

So Tsuna let himself be dragged through the staring people with little embarrassment (he spent a lot of time with his guardians, 'nuff said) until he reached an oasis of calm and _personal space_. Xanxus provided no comments on his actions and stared ahead, which was probably what he'd been doing all along and what he was planning on doing for the remainder of their travel. A twelve hour flight didn't seem to do much good for his mood and people-tolerance.

And eh…

_Xanxus' hand was still on his wrist_.

Oh. My god. Tsuna resisted the urge to hyperventilate when after 5 full seconds (_full_ seconds, _full_! He'd counted!) that warm grip was still… kind of… cutting of the blood circulation through his right hand…! Now was not the time to start blushing madly, even if it was all he could do to keep from emitting muffled squeaks in joyful surprise. Holy crap. Hoooooly…

Xanxus' hand was so warm and so big (the man's fingers were resting on the ball of his own thumb, dwarfing Tsuna's slim digits) and so warm (not sure if he'd said that already) and so _Xanxus' hand_ and his grip was so strong which he kind of already knew of course andandandand-

_Hiiiiiiiii, keep breathing, Tsuna!_

Tsuna didn't notice the stares the were receiving (or really the ones _he_ was receiving, as no-one dared to stare openly at Xanxus).

There was no way Xanxus was doing this as some gesture of affection. No way. That was too bad, of course, but he wasn't stupid. Book-smarts weren't his thing, but he knew people and could read their intentions pretty well and Xanxus was definitely not feeling affectionate right now. (If ever.)

'X-Xanxus-san?' Tsuna's voice was barely audible over the passengers' chatter, but Xanxus cut his gaze down to him and lifted an eyebrow sharply. Caramel eyes looked down at his hand and Xanxus's, then back up, and cheeks were pinkish in spite of his valiant attempts to thwart their efforts. The man had followed his pointed look and met his inquiring gaze squarely.

'You'd get lost.'

The brunet's face burst red with a genuinely embarrassed blush at the most likely truthful argument. He bowed his head quickly, evading Xanxus' gaze.

Ooooh, _now_ he felt embarrassed. Xanxus clearly thought he was an idiot incapable of basic survival and here in Italy, so far away from everything the teenager knew, sadly, he could just be right.

The busses started moving, quaking stationary before taking off and spluttering on at a gentle speed for the passengers who didn't get a seat. Sounds of quiet conversation were all around, people talking to their family and friends. Tsuna kept his nervous eyes on thefloor of the bus, focussing on keeping himself from falling over and taking his older companion down with him (oooooh, _no_).

The feeling of being watched crept up on him and shyly, his eyes travelled back up, fully expecting to see Xanxus, smirking mockingly. To his surprise, the man was staring ahead and slightly down, at a seated elderly couple. He hadn't seen the two wrinkly fellow-Japanese before and wondered what was so interesting about them, until he realized they were conversing with each other in hushed tones and covertly pointing in their direction.

Tsuna suddenly got a bad feeling when he saw the grin on the Varia leader's face.

The ticklish sensation of calloused fingertips sliding down the skin of his inner wrist and the palm of his hand startled him so badly that he jumped, barely keeping in a (_manly_! How many times did he have to explain this?) squeak.

What the-? He felt his mouth fall open and gaped at the older male, who plainly ignored him while grabbing his hand and lacing their fingers together in a most conspicuous manner, half in front of and away from both their torsos.

Tsuna practically _died_ a shocked, obscenely happy death right then and there but somehow managed to resist collapsing to the bus' floor and seizuring his way through a heart attack. He only vaguely registered the scandalized mutters of the elderly couple, which was no doubt what the man had been aiming for. He looked unbearably smug (Tsuna had never thought that harassing the crap out of old people in _such_ a way was something that guy would _ever_ want to do, I mean, wtfff?) and then grinned slyly, _leered_ at Tsuna, crimson clashing with caramel, obviously trying to further get a rise out of the couple.

Tsuna felt faintas he stared back. Wait a minute…

No. No way. Really?

Slowly, realisation dawned with great apprehension. Tsuna actually looked down at himself and then at Xanxus, the picture slowly but surely forming in his baffled and sun-cooked brain.

He looked pretty innocent, right? With his slight frame and the air of insecurity that he _knew_ he projected, he looked rather defenceless, didn't he? Obviously younger than Xanxus and maybe even clueless. Add to that image, Xanxus, who looked just about as criminal as he was (or maybe even less criminal than he really was, which, with the older male's track record, was pretty plausible) and he must look like some kind of _pet_ or something!

_Hiiiiiiii! What __is he doing?_

The man was leaning towards him, _towering over him_, in a manner Tsuna couldn't describe as anything less than decidedly dominant.

Oh, dear.

Tsuna blushed to the very roots of his toffee-coloured hair and tried not to think about the shocked people watching Xanxus' version of a practical joke. He kept this up and managed to relax enough to secretly relish the warmth of their joined hands.

By the time they reached the arrival hall, people were ready to throw themselves out of the bus. Shocking people was apparently not entertaining enough on its own, to Xanxus, so he'd also taken up glaring at everyone. It seemed like he was trying to break his own record regarding the time it took him to make people a) pale, b) squeak in terror and c) wet themselves, the latter of which thankfully hadn't occurred (for as far as Tsuna could tell).

Xanxus' warm hand dropped from his own the moment they too left the vehicle and Tsuna masked his sigh. On the other hand, he was sure he'd blow up if he had to keep himself from turning bright crimson much longer, so it was kind of for the best.

They passed through the nondescript arrival hall very quickly, since neither of them had any luggage to pick up. This didn't make Tsuna pause to think at all, since his mind was still pretty much otherwise occupied. Once outside, Xanxus growled out something that came down to "don't get lost", but then with a lot more expletives and threats thrown in.

For some reason, the man seemed to be in a bad mood now and Tsuna tried his very best to keep up with the sudden mood swing.

Unfortunately for him, the man remained grumpy and growly all throughout their trip to Wherever. (Because no, he still hadn't felt the need to tell Tsuna where they were headed and Tsuna loved his life a little too much to ask when Xanxus was in this mood.)

* * *

><p>Warm light entered the elaborate Vongola suite through ceiling high windows, framed by long drapes of a rich red colour. It highlighted the two light brown, leather couches, standing opposite each other facing the centre of the room, upon which two of the suite's current occupants were seated.<p>

'What the fuck do you mean, the brat needs my clothes?'

The headache that had been looming over him since the flight had just blossomed to a mother of all and Xanxus didn't bother containing his glare. His posture was stiff with irritation as he stood with his arms folded over his chest in defiance. His father remained completely unaffected, the old coot. He could see his little trainee from his peripheral vision, trying very determinedly to disappear into the comfy leather couch he was seated on. Mousy brat.

Fucking _sun arcobaleno_.

No wonder he hadn't bothered to pack any luggage, that trash always liked messing shit up. After the brat's mother dressed the brunet up in some proper clothes, Xanxus had been pointedly asked when he wanted to leave (not by the woman, she'd asked him to stay for dinner…) and had taken the obvious hint, her son slung over his shoulder the moment the front door closed behind him.

No luggage. He'd thought that an advantage at first.

'I'm sure you have enough spares to lend him for today, Xanxus. You can go shopping tomorrow for necessities. Really, Tsuna only needs something for the night.'

Xanxus bared his teeth at the elderly man, who smiled warmly back at him. As though it was merely a _suggestion_. He could easily force the shark-trash to lend the runt whatever he needed, but Timoteo was being pretty darn specific about it being _his_ clothes. They were never going to fit that brat anyway(not that the shark's would, but he had more trash to order around).

'E-ehm…'

The brat flinched and made a ridiculous sort of squeaky noise (strangely resembling the noise that Lightning trash made when he kicked him) when all attention was back on him, including Xanxus' less than amiable glare. He'd grown increasingly frustrated with the brat during their travel, the constant timidity making it hard for him to keep his annoyance under control and _not_ kick a spine into the scrawny brunet (which wouldn't have worked to that effect, but would definitely make _him_ feel better).

'Yes, Tsunayoshi?'

Leave it to his father to be able to endure such a brat.

It flushed a little, probably from the realisation of its own incompetence, before speaking in a hesitant voice, his face that of someone who expected to get hit.

There was no doubt in Xanxus' mind that he was the one who would be doing the beating. With distinct satisfaction.

'I-I don't mind, uhm, it's like you said, we could go for necessities tomorrow. It's no problem doing without for a night.'

Finally, the little runt said something useful. But his father had the foul nerve to shake his grey head at the statement and Xanxus felt a muscle starting to twitch above his left eye. He did _not_ want to do that brat a fucking _favour_. He didn't fucking owe him anything!

'Nonsense, Tsunayoshi, it's no trouble.'

Easy for him to say!

'You only need a pair of pyjamas and a toothbrush, after all.'

The gritting of his teeth was audible in the airy, light room, and skilfully ignored by only one of it's occupants. The brunet wisely avoided looking at him.

'_Fine_.' Xanxus hissed, wanting to get this over with already. The old man wasn't going to change his mind and his own was suffering from a headache that he'd need to kick a gratuitous amount of people for to get rid of. That, or quite a bit of liquor.

The Ninth smiled at him and had the nerve to look grateful while the runt breathed a sigh of relief. Xanxus' scowl darkened.

'Is that all?' He gritted out. He would've just marched straight out and let the old man and his _adorable fucking grandson_ get to their catching up, but he'd recently agreed with himself to pay heed to some aspects of decorum (_only_ when concerning his father) so instead he voiced that discreet request to be dismissed.

The old coot fucking _beamed_ at him at the obvious change in behaviour and immediately acknowledged his request, clearly wanting to show that he appreciated it.

Well. That was one good thing then.

Xanxus whirled around with all the grace of a huffy lion and marched out. The brat probably hadn't understood shit of that exchange, as it should be. The Varia leader couldn't wait until the brat was going to undergo the strict teachings on decorum. If it were up to him to choose the brat's tutor, in any case.

Just because he felt like it, he slammed the door behind him, not missing nor minding the raw bark of laughter he heard coming from the room at his actions.

His headache had just lifted a great deal.

* * *

><p>'You!'<p>

CRASH

'VOOOOOOOOOOOIII, WHAT THE FUCK BOSS!'

'Go get me a fucking toothbrush.'

'…you've finally gone completely mental, haven't you?'

…glare.

'And soft.'

CRASH

'VOOOOOI!'

'You know you asked for it.' -grin-

'…fucking boss…'

…-grin-

* * *

><p>THEY'RE A HAPPY FUCKING FAMILY YOU HEAR ME XD<p>

I love that little bit of omake! Ftw.

Yes, Xanxus' and Squalo's relationship is not like it is in the manga/anime. Clearly, Xanxus isn't the same either. I'm turning him into what I like and the poor guy doesn't get a say in it. So yeah, there more familial. FTFW. I'm a little hyper :D Xanxus isn't fatherly towards anyone though. Ooooh, I can't wait to write the interaction between the Varia members *dreamy look* Oh my, additional pairingssss !

Gokudera had yet to explode, but it will happen someday.

And yeah, I made Xanxus call Tsuna an "it" XD. Sorry, Tsu.

And about the bit on Xanxus' natural habitat… well… Tsuna just thinks Xanxus is an _animal_. SOOOO there you go.

ALL OF YOU REVIEWERS I LOVE YOU TO LITTLE HUGGLY BITS OF LOVELY LOVENESSSTUFF THINGIES YOU GET THE POINT RITE? I SO LOVE YOU ALL FOR REVIEWING, FEEL MAH LUVINGSSSSSS! As is probably common knowledge, they gave me the drive to rrrriiiteee this thingamajig (i love that word SO much XD)

ALSOOOO I am sorry that the swimshorts did not make an appearance yet! They were supposed to *pout*, but it wouldn't happen in this chapter. Fear not, though, it won't be long XD.

ahum, did you know, Tsuna still isn't really awesome at SWIMMING... basic requirement for being a capable boss, ne?

'Tis my aspiration to write at least 7 pages for each chapter, SO FAR SO GOOOOOOOD! :D

~Please review! :D:D:D


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Tsuna was stood waist deep in chlorinated water, hugging himself to try and ease his nervous shivering. He was wearing a pair of light blue swimming trunks, that were flung into his face that morning when he'd walked into the lounge his tutor had been occupying. Xanxus was stood at the edge of the huge-ass Varia swimming pool, discussing something with another Varia higher-up.

He'd been ordered to get into the pool and get used to the feeling of moving around in water before the older man walked off and Tsuna was now trying to do that, despite the fact that Xanxus himself was clad in nothing but knee-length swimming trunks; a mix of deep red and black that suited the Varia leader well. Tsuna fought off the distraction and lowered himself into the water until it reached his chin, like he'd done a couple of times already, trying to get himself to dunk his head without filling his nose with the pool water.

How did this had come to be, you ask? Why did Xanxus abruptly and unannounced decide to teach Tsuna how to swim? Well…

**_Flashback_**

'_Runt_. This is your room for as long as you're here.'

Xanxus barked at him, throwing open a door to something that Tsuna deemed deserving of a name far more elegant than just _room_. It was practically an entire apartment on its own, he thought as he slowly entered, gaping at the tastefully furnished space. He walked directly into an open sitting room with a comfy-looking couch, its back facing the small kitchen on his right, along with several means of entertainment. The wall opposite Tsuna, on the other side of the sitting room, was almost all glass with two broad and artfully decorated glass doors leading to a spacious balcony. It let in the warm orange glow of the evening sun. To Tsuna's right, the wall continued for a few feet until it made way for that small, but sufficient and pretty-looking kitchen (and how kitchens could look pretty, Tsuna had never known before then), the plush carpet seamlessly making way for a more easy to clean mater- was that _marble_? For a kitchen floor?

_Waaaa…_

On his left, in the wall bordering the sitting room, were two elegantly carved wooden doors and Tsuna guessed those lead to a bed- and a bathroom. He almost didn't dare wonder what those would look like and was about to go explore when he remembered the presence of his tutor.

Tsuna whirled around and gazed a little sheepishly at Xanxus, who stood with his arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the wall right next to the door and staring at him with something that looked like amusement. Tsuna cleared his throat and shuffled his feet, embarrassed at having been caught marvelling at what was probably commonplace for the Varia leader. When the man didn't say anything, Tsuna felt compelled to fill the silence with some form of conversation.

'Ah, eh, it's… really pretty.' He mumbled, meeting Xanxus' gaze squarely as he had gotten tired of being so timid around the man a short while ago. It had been almost an entire day he'd spent with the man and his system could only keep up being shy for so long. Tsuna was glad that he was reaching his timidity limit. He preferred when he felt more confident about himself.

Xanxus inclined his head, a response Tsuna wasn't expecting to get, and pushed himself off the wall. He strode towards those beautiful balcony doors, giving off an aura that said he was expecting to be followed. Tsuna quickly did so, catching up to the man when he opened the doors wide and strode out onto the balcony.

When they reached the broad railing, made of smooth stone, Tsuna's breath caught involuntarily.

The Varia mansion was surrounded by outstretched gardens and they were _beautiful_. They were just as tastefully designed as the bit of palace assigned to him that was apparently a _room_. Large strips of green were drawn upon with shrubs in different hues of fresh green and colourful patches of flowers that Tsuna had never seen before in his life, forming a sort of idyllic? maze. Beneath the two, just beyond the few meters of pavement that surrounded the mansion, a large swimming pool with curved edges rather than a square shape sparkled up at Tsuna with it's clear water, seemingly blue against its tiling.

Tsuna was pretty sure his jaw had dropped. He could hear Xanxus chuckle amusedly right next to him and the moment felt unfamiliarly comfortable, as though they were actually okay with each other's presence. Could maybe even enjoy it at some point in the future.

'You can use the pool whenever you're not training. What you do in your spare time is your own business so long as you don't bother me. Make sure to rest enough, though, I'm not going to beat your dead weight around.'

Tsuna turned his head to look at the man beside him, who was leaning on the balcony's stone railing with his forearms crossed, leaning his chin on them as he too looked out over the grounds. As though it was a sight he enjoyed, no matter that he was maybe used to it. Maybe, because maybe he was often caught up in being the Varia's boss with paperwork and meetings in his office and missions and the like.

Tsuna smiled a little, turning back to gaze at the glimmering water.

'Nah… I can't swim. I was just looking at it… the water's pretty.'

Yeah. It really did feel comfortable. Tsuna realized that he wasn't barked at when he spoke confidently, rather than as though he was asking the other whether what he was saying (sometimes even about himself) was alright, or approvable. That was a pleasant realisation.

He could feel Xanxus staring at him and turned back to him, tilting his head in question. Xanxus looked exasperated and vaguely disbelieving, like he wasn't sure if Tsuna was kidding with him or not. One corner of Tsuna's mouth pulled up as though his smile was shrugging, saying "yeah, I know. That's just how life went." along with him. He didn't say anything, but Xanxus looked like he got the message and turned back to the view.

Nothing more was said. They just stared at the view until the sun lowered so far behind the horizon that the warm orange glow disappeared and left the gardens looking cold, even though the air was still warm enough to leave the balcony doors open when they returned inside.

Something had begun changing between them there, Tsuna could feel it. The new feeling was warm and he liked it. Who knew? Being around Xanxus for an undetermined amount of time might no longer be such a daunting, unpleasant prospect.

_Yeah, who knows!_ Tsuna thought as they crossed the chunk of paradise he was given as a home for that same undetermined amount of time. He hoped he would get enough time off to be able to enjoy his new _room_, time in which he wasn't too exhausted and/or black and blue to take it in and savour the comfiness.

The rest of the evening, Xanxus showed him around the most relevant parts of the mansion, including the ones he deemed most likely for Tsuna to wander into and get lost. Tsuna was shown the lounge where his tutor said he would be the next morning and where the brunet was supposed to head down to every morning so they could start their training.

Tsuna's stomach felt as though he'd just looked down to see his last step had brought him at the very edge of a ravine, with a rather spiky looking bottom too, when the realized that he would really start training with Xanxus the next morning. Xanxus' sharp, expectant grin showed that he'd picked up on those vibes. He reminded the brunet rather of Hibari in that moment, with the satisfied glee he got when he felt he'd get an interesting, challenging opponent. One he'd actually have to _try_ for, to win.

The thought that that was what Xanxus may view _him_ as, made his heart flutter and his stomach whirl nauseously with nerves.

Like, maybe, Tsuna could earn his respect?

Tsuna quickly let go of _that_ thought, not yet daring to entertain it. He hadn't yet shown Xanxus what he was really made of, what strength of character he had if he'd only dare to trust himself and let it out. More importantly, he hadn't shown himself that, either. He was looking forward to changing that, soon.

'Now get to bed, trash, if you're dead in the morning, I'm not gonna go easy on you.'

The growled bark made Tsuna jump and he quickly bowed, thanking the man for the tour in an automatic and rushed kind of way before running (the first half of the way backwards, too) out of the lounge and back the way they'd come until he reached his piece of paradise.

Not yet entirely de-jumpified around Xanxus-san then. But he had time.

The next morning, when Tsuna managed to find the designated lounge, the first thing that greeted him was a light blue _something_ flung in his face, that turned out to be a pair of knee-length swimming trunks when he examined it in his hands. Tsuna looked up in confusion and met Xanxus' grim face, forcing himself not to back away instantly at the I-am-no-morning-person-WANT-COFFEE-NOW vibes he was getting. (Tsuna'd learned that Xanxus responded better when he didn't cower. It was a most helpful discovery. Live-saving.)

'You're going to learn how to fucking swim, little runt. Maffia bosses should know how to not fucking _drown_.'

The good mood of the previous evening seemed to not have survived the night. Tsuna didn't let his heart despair and instead consoled it with the knowledge that most anti-morning people got a better mood during the day.

And then he realised that Xanxus had said that they would always start training _in the mornings_. As in, sparring and stuff. Xanxus shooting at him, that sort of thing.

_Oh, crud_.

**_End flashback_**

And that was how Tsuna had ended up in that sparkling, huge-ass swimming pool, trying not to freeze to death when he experienced that though Italian _evenings_ were warm, the early mornings were most certainly not.

Xanxus had not specified on a time when he said they'd start in the morning, so Tsuna had thought of Reborn and Hibari and decided to go looking for him as soon as he woke. Which had been kind of early, come to think of it. …maybe that had something to do with Xanxus' mood… But the man had already been up, right? Uhh… he didn't want to see Tsuna that early? Uhh…

The sun was rising, casting a cooler orange over the gardens than it had the day before and not really warming the shivering skin on his back. And his chest. And arms, and legs, and everything, because bleeeeh, cold water plus cold air equals cold Tuna-fish.

Xanxus and the other Varia member (or at least, Tsuna assumed it was another Varia member) were still talking and Tsuna wondered at how lucid they looked. Tsuna himself was fighting the aftermath of getting up before dawn and the effects of jet lag, but those two looked like they were used to getting up way earlier than he himself had. Xanxus _had_ already been in that lounge when Tsuna arrived. It was a bit confusing. Such a bad mood despite looking like he was used to early awakenings.

Figuring that this heap of thoughts was due to his grogginess and not going anywhere, Tsuna decided to just drop the entire subject from his mind.

The sun was shining and the sky was clear and all that. It looked like it as going to be a good day. Tsuna pondered the weather as he lazily swished his hands through the water.

The next moment, a big splash only a few feet away turned the water around him into a whirling mass of fluid that knocked him clean off his feet. His breath disappeared into the water as a large gust of bubbles and the chloride stung his eyes until his kicking feet managed to find purchase on the pool floor and he shot back up, coughing out the bit of fluid that had spilled into his throat violently. By the time he could use his eyes without squinting, the early swimmer that had joined him so suddenly was stood up, proud and confident right in front of him and sending small tingles of alert through his survival instincts.

Tsuna spotted the man, emitted a strangled sort of squeak in immediate terror and tried to run away backwards, but ended up falling due to the water's resistance and dipping below the surface once again. He did his very best to resurface as quickly as he could, as he didn't want to lose sight of the man that stood so close to him so casually and managed to rise above the pool's surface.

Tsuna's amber eyes flickered across the man's form, trying to anticipate if he was about to be violently murdered. The man laughed at his expense and the sound made unpleasant goosebumps appear on his already shivering skin.

'_Ushishishi_. Look what the cat dragged in~ Boss hasn't killed you yet? I'm surprised. Maybe that means the prince is allowed to give it a try?'

Tsuna squeaked in sheer mortal fear, stumbling further back and trying not to die simply by cause of a heart attack.

On the other hand, that did sound preferable.

Tsuna's memories of the mad prince in front of him jumped to mind instantly and they weren't all too good, especially when coupled with what he just said. He looked more mature than the teenager he remembered fighting Gokudera, his dripping hair still covering everything but the tip of his nose and the sharp, wide grin, but his form taller, broader with 5 years of development. Tsuna was mildly embarrassed to note that the same water that reached his waist, only came up to the older man's thighs.

He couldn't discover any of the supposed prince's knives on him, but he could never see any of Gokudera's bombs either, not even when they were in a hot spring and yet he always managed to whip them out of nowhere and at whoever he deemed necessary (so mostly Lambo).

He gulped and backed a little further away. The blonde man's grin widened to proportions that Tsuna couldn't think of as anything less than painful and, with a distinct sense of sadistic glee, stepped after him with a grace the brunet found highly inappropriate for one walking in water. He himself could only stumble around even more clumsily then he did on solid ground and with a complete lack of elegance, if not the total opposite of it. His awe at the assassin's grace however, was quickly replaced by the familiar feeling of complete and utter fright.

Tsuna wasn't sure how much more his heart could take when his back collided with the edge of the pool and he had nowhere to escape to. He could move along the edge, but the blonde would reach him far sooner than the never he preferred and he could climb out of the pool, but that would require turning his back on the man. Knowing his own athletic abilities, he wouldn't make it even halfway out of the pool before he got caught in that unstable person's clutches.

'_Ushishi_, looks like you've got nowhere to run to~'

_Yes. Thank you for noticing that too. I'm gonna diiiiiieieeeee…!_

The maniacally grinning (really, Tsuna couldn't make anything else out of that facial expression) man approached until there were only two meagre feet left between them, then paused, tilting his head to the side while Tsuna never got rid of the burning feeling of hidden eyes on his being.

_I don't wanna die a gory, bitsy death! Noooooo, don't kill meeeeeeeee!_

Tsuna got the feeling that the man was only playing with him, but it only soothed him so far. The difference between his own definition of "playing" and that man's was one he suspected was only too large.

As the brunet had expected, by the time the fang-baring grin no longer had an all too entertaining effect on him, an elegant fan of gleaming silver knives appeared as though it had always been waiting to materialize in the prince's hand. Tsuna could feel himself pale, his theory only confirmed when the man giggled that peculiar laugh.

'_Ushishishishi~_ Let's play, little peas-'

'Xanxus is teaching me how to swim!' Tsuna blurted out suddenly, having no idea why, but that felt like the best thing he could do in this situation, survival-technically speaking. He had simply followed his gut, since that felt like something that would indeed save him.

The blonde man paused, taking the step forward he was about to make, back and tilting his head again. His grin faded to a thoughtful twitch of the lips (and why was every single facial expression of that guy _always_ somehow smiling?) and after a few seconds, the hand holding the knives lowered and the things just _vanished_ and Tsuna decided that he didn't even want to know where to. The brunet eyed the man's fiery orange swimming trunks for a moment, but quickly dismissed the thought.

'The prince will not take the boss's toy.'

He declared in his smooth voice, leaning back a little in order to, supposedly anyway, take in the sight of his boss's no longer entirely unwilling pupil.

Somehow, that made Tsuna's gut feeling start screaming at him. He tried to back away, but only pressed further into the pool edge. Slowly, ever so slowly, the blonde started showing more and more teeth until the early morning sun was reflecting off them and glinting into Tsuna's eyes.

_Oh God…_

The young trainee let out a resigned, but still panicky noise when a strong, slim hand closed around his upper arm like a vice and dragged him out to the middle of the Varia's pool effortlessly. But, something Tsuna was immensely grateful for, they remained in the shallow end. The man chuckled for no apparent reason and it made the skin covering his spine crawl until he had to resist the instinctive urge to jerk his arm back to himself. The man was deceptively slim and he didn't think struggling would do him any good, since it might just address his playful side. He was already beginning to lose feeling in his fingers when he was released, heaving a hopefully inaudible sigh of relief.

And then the man (something with … "Bel" or something, was in his name, right?) turned around and faced him and Tsuna had to look _up_, something he felt highly uncomfortable doing, since it bared several points on his body that were very much vital for his survival.

'_Ushishishi_, I am going to help you~ Bow down in gratitude, for the prince is offering you his help, _shishishi_'

_Oh dear God, what is he going to do to me?_

Whatever the man was thinking would _help _him (and Tsuna didn't for one second believe that even the madman himself actually thought that's what he was about to do) was sure to _not_ do so.

_Where is Xanxus-san?_

For once in his life, Tsuna was looking to the Varia leader for rescue. He didn't think anyone else would be able to stop this man in front of him, who could've passed off as a completely innocent person if not for the intent he was exuding.

Tsuna looked at the poolside? where he had last seen Xanxus and where he still was, _still talking to that other guy like he didn't even know what was going on right behind him!_

Tsuna's heart dropped into his toes.

This was payback, wasn't it? Xanxus wasn't going to help him, he was going to let this subordinate of his have his wicked way with the brunet and let him deal with it himself, if he could. And if he couldn't, the hospital bills (or those of the morgue, who knew) would just be chalked up to damage acquired during training.

Tsuna was about ready to cry, but held it in. If there was one thing his travel with Xanxus had learnt him, it was that their type of person did not show mercy to those who showed weakness, and would only take into consideration (or calculation, depending) the will of those who respected themselves and didn't take their crap.

Tsuna didn't quite feel like facing the consequences of not taking this particular person's crap, but he could do self-respect. So he was _not_ going to cower and call for Xanxus (which would probably only earn him the older man's disgust, anyway) and he _was_ going to do his very best to not let this guy toy with him, no matter how much the blonde terrified him.

The blonde chuckled some more and Tsuna resisted the responsive shudder. It seemed the man had picked up on the change in his intent, because he regarded him silently for a moment, but Tsuna's hopes were dashed when he continued in exactly the same way he had before.

'_Ushishishi_, now then, let's see if you've learnt how to breathe underwater.'

And the next moment all Tsuna could experience was panic at the hard touch of an open hand against the top of his head and the sensation of water in his mouth, nose, ears and eyes.

When completely underwater, the hand still pushing him down forcefully, Tsuna forced himself to calm down.

_Alright Tsuna. Now you need to value your own will._

He wanted to live. He wanted to not feel the unpleasant sensation of water in his every orifice. The hand on his head was the only active obstacle and it wasn't doing anything other than keeping him down.

Alright.

Tsuna resisted the urge to open his mouth in a panicked shout and instead saved the oxygen in his lungs, opening his stinging eyes voluntarily and discovering that it didn't hurt so much if they weren't hit by the water so harshly. His toes were still on the pool floor and he could see the floor a few feet from his face. He would be able to reach it with his hands.

Tsuna ducked his head deeper into the water, away from the hand. He brought his own hands to the pool floor, pushing himself backwards and out of the blonde's reach. He used his feet to push himself up until he once again broke the water's surface and only then did he allow his reflexes to draw air into his straining lungs, blinking the water out of his eyes quickly so he could locate the threat.

Said threat was baring his teeth at him in a grin a few meters away, sufficiently out of reach, hands stuffed nonchalantly into his pockets. The man made no move to approach him.

Tsuna heaved an _audible_ sigh of relief that time.

The man's eerie laughter bounced over to him across the water's swirling surface, not interrupted at all when Xanxus jumped into the water not too far behind the blonde and started making his way further into the pool. Tsuna watched the two, amber gaze flicking from one to the other, uncertain about the proceedings.

Xanxus was staring at him intently, kind of wolf-like, assessing him. Tsuna wondered at how he couldn't detect any disapproval. The man came closer and closer to him, stopping a good few meters away, unlike the blonde man, who had had no trouble with intruding on his personal space.

Xanxus stared at him a moment longer, then relocated his crimson glare to his subordinate.

'Leave, trash.'

The blonde's grin stretched wide and he released peals of laughter, before and while turning away and slipping out of the pool. His quieting chuckles were still audible as he made his way out of the pool area and into the mansion, clearly not bothering to dry himself off first and save whoever cleaned the mansion the mess.

Tsuna finally let himself shudder when the blonde was gone, physically working out the creeps he'd received from that encounter.

That man was definitely creepier than Mukuro. For one thing, the vibes Mukuro gave off weren't quite so _gorily_ bloodthirsty.

Tsuna didn't pay a lot of attention to Xanxus while he shook of the disturbed feelings, no more than keeping tabs on his location at the back of his mind. When he felt himself ready, he turned to his tutor, wondering whether or not he was about to actually start teaching him how to swim.

Xanxus lips were twitching up only the tiniest bit, his gaze steady on Tsuna as he stood in his usual pose with his arms crossed over his chest. His features were fairly relaxed, considering what he usually looked like. There was quiet for a long moment, allowing Tsuna come to terms with what just happened.

Tsuna got the weirdest feeling in his chest. It wasn't unpleasant, and it wasn't because of Xanxus either. It felt warm, and strong. It filled his back too, making him automatically square his shoulders in- in confidence! The feeling… the feeling… it was…

_It's pride! I'm-I'm feeling proud of myself!_

He'd just stood up against one of the most dangerous people he knew existed, on his own, and most importantly, _for himself_. His own self had been enough to save him out of that frightening situation. His own self had been enough…

Tsuna had been able to save himself, for himself. He'd just- …He'd just effectively protected himself. It was… the feeling that gave him was one of the nicest, strongest ones yet.

Tsuna explored that feeling that made him square his shoulders, made him straighten his back. It felt good to do that, to stand up tall without taking into account what anybody else might think of him. Not letting it bother him if anybody else thought he wasn't good enough to stand up tall and allow himself to be, just the way he wanted to be.

Tsuna wanted to never lose that feeling.

'Pride, self-respect and confidence…'

Xanxus' low rumbling voice approached him over the water. Tsuna looked up.

'About time you learnt how that feels.'

Tsuna's caramel eyes widened at his words, a possibility coming to him when he recognized a smidgen of the feeling in his own chest in the slight, satisfied spark in the older man's eyes.

_Did he just-!_

'Xanxus-san!' He blurted without thinking, his hands lowering from where they'd been pressed softly against his chest in wonder. The Varia leader shifted his weight, raising an eyebrow inquiringly.

'Did you just- Was that- Did that just happen on purpose!'

Xanxus' lips curled in a self-satisfied smirk, eyes glinting with what was _definitely_ satisfaction. Was it at a job well done? The man inclined his head, still giving off a superior feeling.

Tsuna's jaw dropped. To his chest. Maybe even to the pool floor, under his feet.

'Hsmegspudenet-' The brunet spluttered his incredulity (and relief) at the now full out smirking man who stood in the pool wit him. He splashed his hands around in the water at his sides in something akin to relieved surrender to higher powers. Well, not entirely, but close enough.

But thank God that that had only been training. He didn't want to know what the blonde man would have done to him if he'd been serious.

…on the other hand, he'd been able to stand up for himself (which was an equivalent to saving himself here), so if that _had_ been serious, it would have been pretty good. Very good.

'The thrash wasn't playing around, runt. If you hadn't done anything, he would've just drowned you.'

That comment was probably meant to not let Tsuna talk himself back into thinking he couldn't truly stand up for himself, but it mostly just made the brunet feel like facevaulting into the water in incredulity. It did help, but,

_X-Xanxus-san doesn't-doesn't really play around, d-does he?_

In other words, Xanxus had just told him that he'd been about to die. Tsuna recalled the gleaming white teeth and felt positively faint.

'If you faint now, _I'll_ let you drown.'

Tsuna quickly snapped himself out of it. He didn't want to risk mistaking that for a joke after what the man had just told him. It didn't sound much like a joke, anyway.

'Well. Let's get you swimming.'

Tsuna had no trouble picking up on the exasperated note to Xanxus' voice. He was apparently still not entirely convinced that such a thing was even possible. Maybe he thought Reborn would've taken care of it by now, but Tsuna'd rather not think back to _those_ events.

* * *

><p>And that was the first lesson for our little Tuna-fish.<p>

DIDN'T EXPECT ME TO UPDATE THIS SOON, DIDYA! -grins- So I was on a role~ 10 WHOPPING PAGES YEAH!

Actual lesson probably next chapter. How did ya like Bel? I just love him, I hope I wrote him the way I wanted to XD. I tried to make it serious, but I can imagine that it was a little laughable, because I was trying to make clear through Tsuna how dangerous he is... but I think, since its Tsuna and Tsuna is scared in a funny kinda way, that that may have made it laughable instead.

I was going to make his swimming trunks a bloodred for, I think, obvious reasons, but I liked the mental image of Bel in nothing but fiery orange trunks while still being credibly dangerous.

That's what I tried to pull off here XD Hope it worked, I would really appreciate it if you'd tell me :D:D:D

Please review~

Cheers! ~Dirkje


	5. Chapter 5

Anybody else notice that Xanxus is technically Tsuna's uncle? Just thought I'd drop the incest bomb. (Yeah I know it's not blood related) And also thus technically Iemetsu's brother? Whom he can't stand? Yeah.

Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn or any of its affiliated things, just this awesome story. Heh. :D

Thank you all for the reviews and faves~~

Alright, I hope this is the last time it changes- -falls over-.

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

Tsuna was _completely_, _worn_, _out_.

And Xanxus did not care. In the slightest.

Because _Xanxus_ was laying in the lush green grass near the red tiling around the pool, peacefully soaking up the warm rays of the sun while _his subordinate_ threw his supposed trainee around _in_ the pool.

Tsuna felt he was maybe starting to grow a little bit of dislike towards his long-time crush. Maybe.

Every now and then the dark-haired man would glance over to see how he was doing and every single time he'd done that, Tsuna stopped resisting gravity and let himself be sucked under the water's surface. He couldn't bear to show off his horrendously non-existing swimming-skills when he knew the man was looking.

Luck had been on his side so far; every time Squalo tore him back up by his hair Xanxus would have already closed his eyes again.

'**VVVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIII!**'

Yes, _Squalo_. Just when Tsuna had begun to think he could maybe enjoy his tutoring.

'VRRAAAAIII, useless brat, you're doing it all wrong! What the fuck is wrong with you?!'

The tall, lanky man gestured wildly with his left arm, like he did when his sword was attached to it. He'd left it at the poolside for the duration of the lesson and Tsuna was _very, very_ grateful for that. Squalo had been attempting to teach the young heir how to move around in water _without_ _drowning_ for the past three hours and was, understandably, getting a little frustrated as they were getting nowhere.

Definitely not for lack of trying on Tsuna's part, though.

Or on Squalo's. Heaven forbid the man would hear him think that.

It wasn't that the swordsman's method of training wasn't a good one. He was definitely better than his guardians had been (bless them) and surprisingly, less sadistic than Reborn. Pretty much just as strict as Reborn, though.

Squalo had shown him how it was done at first, figuring it would help if Tsuna could see and maybe learn a little from watching. …It had been kind of demotivating to watch someone move so gracefully through the unyielding, eye-stinging liquid, but he did get the picture.

After that, he had started to show him the movements one step at a time, wanting Tsuna to copy them. Although extremely loud, Squalo had done it with a sort of incredulous patience that Tsuna had never seen coming and that actually made him _more_ wary, because it was so unusual. The brunet remembered wondering how long it would last.

It had lasted about fifteen minutes, until it became apparent that Tsuna naturally sucked at swimming. Simple as that.

Squalo was not the kind of person who appreciated the concept of "giving up" though and as a result, Tsuna had gone through three hours of intense, ineffective training. They were now both unamused.

'It's not like I'm not trying!' Tsuna cried out, feeling intensely frustrated as he made an another attempt that only led to him hacking up pool water. His temporary tutor growled at him, but couldn't really argue with that. Tsuna had tried to follow his instructions to the T- it wasn't his fault that he simply lacked the motor skills to do it.

Squalo grumbled under his breath and stood back, leaving Tsuna instruction-free while he considered his next move. Squalo wasn't the strategy captain for nothing; he knew when to push through and when to cut his losses.

'Vraaaaii, forget it, brat.'

And with that he stomped through the pool and climbed onto the poolside, collecting his sword and leaving Tsuna alone in the water without another backward glance or word.

Tsuna gaped after the man's retreating back until he disappeared into the mansion, dripping as he went.

Just like that.

Just like that!

The brunet was standing in the middle of the pool with the water reaching up to his waist, tired and wet but thankfully not cold. The sun was shining brightly, warming him and the water gradually. And thanks to the minimal amount of wind, Tsuna was not a small shivering ice cube.

Great.

But he still couldn't swim and Squalo, strict and fierce and intimidating but not painful to interact with, had just _left_. It seemed Xanxus preferred to kick his subordinates at Tsuna rather than teach him himself and the small brunet didn't want to think who would be next.

Flashes of blond and glimmering white teeth passed before his mind's eye and he shuddered violently.

Tsuna really, _really_ hoped Xanxus would just teach him himself. He seemed less inclined towards violence than the others (yes. Actually _less_ _inclined towards violence_) and Tsuna had learnt how to tiptoe around his temper a bit in the past few days.

Tsuna carefully turned his head to look at the lounging form of the Varia leader, clad only (_only!_ Bless the entire impossible event of swimming and it's related protocols) in the dark red and black, knee length pair of swimming trunks. That left everything apart from his upper legs and, ah, uh, crotch area, ahem, bare for Tsuna to ogle.

Of course the small heir had always known Xanxus must be excessively fit underneath that familiar uniform. But now he was _seeing_ that and as embarrassed and somewhat superficial as it made him feel, Tsuna had great difficulty with _not_ staring at the man's firmly, sleekly muscled chest and arms. Every time he lost control of his wandering eyes and got another glimpse of the handsome, handsome Varia leader, he'd feel a little lightheaded. Perhaps because of all the blood rushing to his face.

But that man didn't pay any attention to him, he just kept laying there on the grass, even though it was impossible that he hadn't heard Squalo's abrupt decision to depart.

What was he supposed to do now? Tsuna supposed he could practise by himself, but he didn't think that would do a lot of good. …Would he impress Xanxus if he started training by himself, if he showed off how determined he could be to master this?

That thought lingered in his mind temptingly until he realized what he was really thinking and blushed a fiery red of embarrassment.

_Impress,_ _Xanxus_. Yeah right. And with _swimming_.

He splashed around a little, at a loss for what to do. He was kind of bored, actually.

Three minutes later, in which Xanxus ignored Tsuna and Tsuna played around in the water on his own, he discovered that water was actually kind of fun when no-one was yelling at you to get your strokes right. Still, it _would_ be handy to be able to swim in it.

A movement on the other side of the pool caught Tsuna's eye. He hadn't been sneaking peeks at his Italian tutor for those past three minutes and was actually pretty proud of himself for it (Xanxus had his eyes closed, so it really wasn't like he couldn't have gotten away with it), so it surprised him to see that Xanxus was getting up, unfolding his toned body as he got up from the grassy poolside. The brunet unconsciously stared, all his actions suddenly halted and his arms suspended in the air when the man languidly stretched, his dark skin glistening in the sharp rays of the sun. _Probably from the sweat_, Tsuna thought dazedly, in a sort of stumped awe as he watched toned abdominal muscles ripple, _Since it's so hot out_. He was sweating a little himself too, and he'd been in the cool water the whole morning.

His brief brain-fart was interrupted when Xanxus turned to the pool and started making his way over to, presumably, the water. His relaxed long strides made Tsuna want to stare, but since he was in the man's direct line of vision, he figured it wouldn't be the best idea to actually do that.

Xanxus' body flowed when he lowered himself into the pool in a completely unhurried way, sliding into the shallow end. The delightfully warm day must have really mellowed him. From the way he moved, it certainly looked like soaking up the rays of the sun all morning had made him pretty content.

Xanxus was standing there without paying any attention to the young heir. The man still wasn't even glancing at Tsuna and it was making him feel a little nervous at what that might mean.

Was Xanxus so angry that he hadn't learnt how to swim that he couldn't even speak?

Or had he gotten into the pool (and here, butterflies launched themselves into the bright blue sky of his heart in joyful formations) to teach Tsuna how to swim himself this time? (and then the butterflies had difficulty resisting the urge to crash down once he realized that would mean he'd fail epically within seconds of Xanxus' first personal training attempt.)

Or, perhaps far more likely, was he simply going to take a dip because he felt like it and ignore Tsuna completely?

Tsuna sagged a little. That was very likely. He couldn't really imagine anything more probable than an option that allowed the Varia leader to relax without paying any due attention to his for once very willing charge.

That was really too bad.

Tsuna waded closer to the man daringly.

He watched him. Xanxus was standing a few meters away in the water, with his broad back to him. Tsuna's belly started to feel a little funny when he looked at the defined shoulder blades and the long dip of the Varia leader's spine. With a light blush, but without any surprise at his this feeling, Tsuna pushed it aside and ignored it in favour of not combusting with embarrassment.

The many scars on Xanxus' back caught the brunet's eyes when he looked for something else to focus on. They were highlighted in the bright sunlight, standing out starkly against the darker olive brown of his whole skin. The crisscrossing pattern seemed endless as it cut down in a zigzag across his spine and crawled across his every limb.

The painful sight briefly made Tsuna forget everything else, including how nervous he was with the man's presence and how distractingly handsome he was.

He bit his bottom lip as he remembered what must have caused those scars. He'd never experienced what it was like to be frozen by a sky flame, so he could only guess, but to leave such extensive scars, so ragged and painful-looking…

Tsuna waded closer through the water without thinking about what he was doing, his eyes following the rough lines on Xanxus' body.

He was curious. Those scars were widely acknowledged to be one of the man's most easily identifiable features and he himself had seen them grow dark and distinct up _really_ close during the Ring Battles. But he'd never seen them without being attacked or manhandled at the same time- and, actually, he never really noticed them unless they became more pronounced. Like when the sunlight made the tissue gleam like it was doing now. They were part of Xanxus' features like they'd been there since he was born and to Tsuna, they just fit into that picture. Sometimes he didn't notice them.

He briefly wondered what Xanxus could possibly look like _without_ all those scars. It was hard to imagine.

Oh, but maybe he could find a picture of him somewhere, if he asked the Ninth! Surely his grandfather had pictures of the younger Xanxus laying around, even if put away somewhere safely so that Xanxus couldn't burn them if he found out that the Ninth still kept those.

Yeah! Tsuna'd ask the Ninth the very next time they met. Uhh, if Xanxus wasn't there.

But now he had a chance to see them up close, really _see_ them and since they were such a distinguishing part of Xanxus' physique, this made Tsuna want to go over there and brave the possible threat of decapitation.

The man tipped his head back, his stance relaxed. Tsuna nearly jumped at the sudden motion. Perhaps he just wanted to soak up some more of the warmth of the sun whilst in the refreshingly cool water, after all that baking in the dry grass…

Tsuna carefully waded even closer. If Xanxus was noticing him, he didn't show it. There were at most five feet between them and the young Vongola heir was anxious to cross them.

Whenever would he get another chance like this?

He took small, deliberate steps and attempted to keep from hyperventilating. Somewhere, his survival instincts were starting to catch on to what he was doing. Because of the completely relaxed vibes Xanxus' was giving off and the just as complete lack of any and all aggressiveness (mellowed out by the sun, Tsuna stood by his hypothesis. Like a kitty!), those survival instincts had been blissfully ignorant to the suicidal plan their owner had come up with in less than a second and up until now, they had been slumbering peacefully.

However.

Tsuna began to sweat slightly when all the possible ways this could go wrong started flashing in front of his mind's eye, warning him, telling him to back off while he still had limbs to carry him that far.

He paused, hesitating.

Okay, so maybe it was a really bad idea to go up to Xanxus and start staring at his scars, which were _probably_ a somewhat touchy subject to him, if he was really planning on getting away with that _and_ his life.

Tsuna shifted, feeling disappointed already at the thought of backing down and throwing his awesome plan (nonexistent) to the wind. He really wanted to try…

'Sides, Xanxus looked so mellow!(He really didn't, he was just relaxed, but Tsuna was helping himself to not see that difference.) He'd never thought the older man _could_ look like this, surely it meant that Tsuna would be completely safe and accepted if he intruded on the man's personal space and started poking at the scars left by his father that night when he found out he'd been adopted! After which he'd been imprisoned in ice with no possible escape and/or movement possibility for eight years! By the guy who'd taken his place, well the place he'd thought he had, as his father's chosen heir!

Ahahaha!

…Tsuna sweatdropped at himself.

But still! Besides, Xanxus wouldn't kill him. He couldn't get away with killing the Ninth's chosen heir, right? (Hooo, _ouch_. He flinched away from the term he'd seriously used for himself, even in his mind. _So_ callous.)

Anyway, it was time he started to live a little. What was life without an adrenaline rush every now and then? (He conveniently ignored that he had those on an hourly basis.)

Four more cautious steps and numerous outrageous arguments pro this stupid idea later, Tsuna was standing right behind Xanxus, trying not to pass out from the sheer disbelief and (oh yes, he was meeting his quota) adrenaline rushing through his entire body as he stared at the man's broad back.

The pinkish skin of the numerous scars lay knotted on the smooth olive brown of Xanxus' whole skin, casting small shadows.

The scars were mean-looking, Tsuna decided, feeling his stomach drop sadly. They were never a clean, straight line, they were all scattering out from the centres of their lines like electricity, sharp spikes fanning out close to their brothers.

Like scars left from burning. Burning in ice...

They looked almost scary.

Tsuna's large eyes softened, forgetting the predicament he was getting himself in.

It must've been so painful to undergo, but he had no way to empathize. He wished that he had, or at least a little, so he could understand what Xanxus had gone through.

What would it feel like to be frozen? So cold that your body processes slowed down so much that they stopped, until years could pass and maybe you wouldn't even notice it? Would your mind be put on hold too? Or would you experience every day, every minute and every immovable second? Perhaps being frozen by a Sky flame didn't work in the same way that normal frost did. So then what had it been like?

It seemed like torture… to be aware of everything, but unable to do anything, for _years_. Eight years, wasn't it?

Tsuna shuddered at the thought, unpleasant chills crawling down his spine in spite of the glaring sun.

The small brunet raised one of his hands.

What did those scars feel like? To Xanxus now, but also physically; if he touched them, would the skin feel as soft as it looked? It seemed so, well, strangely _wrong_ for them to look so soft to the touch when they were the proof of something so horrible that had happened.

His fingers stretched out.

He wanted to know what it was like for Xanxus now. He couldn't imagine that he had worked out all the issues he had and it made him feel so sad to think about how much he had to work through on his own. There was no doubt in Tsuna's mind that he wouldn't accept any help.

With trembling fingers and compassion as well as the desire to _know_ outdoing his screaming instincts, he slowly traced one of the angry pink scars down Xanxus' right shoulder blade.

It felt kind of weird. The scarred skin was soft, but strangely bumpy. Tsuna didn't have many scars of his own, except the tiny pinpricks of needles from when he'd been treated at the hospital as a baby and a few from his fights. Among which two left over from his fight with Xanxus. They weren't large enough to knot over his skin like those of the Italian did.

He swallowed, his large eyes wide and watching his own finger down its path. When he reached a sort of crossroad- it was like a city map on Xanxus' back, though a very chaotic one that was hellish for traffic, but he didn't want to use that term when this was so sensitive –when he reached the curve of Xanxus' smooth shoulder blade, he followed another scar that branched off of the first back up to the top of his left shoulder.

The strange bumpiness was almost unpleasant, but that was because he was thinking about how horrible these scars probably were to Xanxus, a constant reminder of what had happened so many years ago. How did it feel for him, every time he saw himself in a mirror? Tsuna felt even worse when he thought of the role he himself had played in the traumatic events of Xanxus' life. How could Xanxus face him without looking like he wanted to tear him apart?

That was something he'd been wondering about since he'd been dragged into his kitchen three days ago and he still didn't have a clue how it was possible, because it didn't even look like Xanxus was suppressing such an urge. Not as strong of one as Tsuna had been expecting, that was.

Perhaps someday, he'd have the courage to ask him about that.

More curiosity led Tsuna to letting his fingers wander onto the darker olive of Xanxus' skin, feeling his way wonderingly across the whole skin onto the next ridge of pink scars. The scarred skin was cooler to the touch than the rest and less smooth, while Xanxus' dark olive skin was silky against Tsuna's fingers. Perhaps they reflected more warmth and light because of their texture and light colour.

Since he was staring at the top of Xanxus' shoulder from no more than a foot away, it was a mere instinctive move to glance up at his head and check what the dangerous man so close to him was doing. If he had thought about doing it he would've definitely kept his head down and backed off instead, considering how he couldn't really get around the fact that-

Once he started thinking about it-

Oh dear kami up in heaven-

_He'd been_ _touching_ _the man's_ _bare, smooth, olive-y skin_ –

Xanxus had been watching him do it.

Right from over his left shoulder, he was staring down at Tsuna from the corner of a glowing crimson eye, locked onto his face, immovable and unreadable.

Truly, how could he have gone on so long without wondering why Xanxus hadn't responded? Come to think of it, why _wasn't_ Tsuna a charred bit of road kill right now?

The breath got stuck in Tsuna's throat and his mind wiped blank with sheer terror, the sort of caught-with-your-hand-in-the-cookie-jar fright, but then with gruesome Varia punishment as the consequence you already knew was coming.

The look in those glowing eyes was strange, though. It gave Tsuna a feeling he'd never experienced before. He didn't understand it, didn't understand the meaning of this moment, despite how he could feel it mean _something_.

Then his survival instincts decided it was time for a brief moment of 'I told you so' and for hitting the panic button. Unfortunately, all the nerves and synapses that usually connected them with Tsuna's conscious mind were fried to death by shock and they had no way of contacting him.

Darnit.

As a last resort, a waterfall of nonsensical excuses and apologies stumbled from Tsuna's lips. In sheer panic, he reverted to the sort of stammering Japanese spoken with the speed of light, all the syllables melting together to form one long, ongoing attempt to save what could possibly be left of his pale hide that Xanxus probably couldn't make out if he even wanted to listen.

Xanxus looked at him for a while until his shaky voice died away. The brunet gulped, staring back at him with his eyes huge and open as a book.

The man slowly turned until he faced him then stepped around him in the water, staring past him, his features tight and still carrying that strange feeling in them. Tsuna swallowed thickly and angled his head slightly down as the man moved away, following him from the corner of his eye.

'Swimming,'

Xanxus started in his low voice, sounding tired in a way that didn't seem to suit him.

Tsuna had to change gears with a screech before his mind could comprehend the sudden shift.

It seemed that Xanxus had decided to go back to normalcy.

'is about trusting your body in the water.' His voice continued in its earth tones, a sound that sounded like humming, the slow vibration of a base pitch.

Tsuna bit his lip and slowly sloshed a little closer to the man. If Xanxus wanted to ignore what had just happened, he would respect that. It was truly none of his business anyway, but… he really cared if it bothered him so much. Only Xanxus would never let him stick his nose into this.

The clear water reflected so much of the bright sunlight that he had to squint. Tsuna didn't dare come closer to the scarred man than about five feet away this time.

Xanxus didn't respond to him other than to continue talking.

'In order to trust your body, you need to trust yourself. Think you can do that?'

Xanxus glanced at him to see his response and Tsuna quickly nodded, sloshing forward another tentative step. Xanxus' shoulders raised and sagged on a surprisingly obvious deep breath and then he beckoned Tsuna to come up next to him.

The Vongola heir hesitantly went, carefully meeting his (finally!?) tutor's eyes. Xanxus didn't give any indication of acknowledging the previous moment, but he wasn't as curt or intimidating as before. He may be pretending it hadn't happened, but he was clearly affected. For some reason, it didn't seem to have angered him, though. He seemed… disappointed. Resigned.

Tsuna shook the thoughts off and decided to focus on the lesson. If Xanxus wanted to let it go, he would respect that.

'So you're telling me,' Xanxus continued, a bit of his usual biting scepticism returning to his voice, 'that you'd trust yourself to safely return to the side of the pool if you went swimming in the deep end now?'

His bright eyes looked transparent like red smoky glass in the sunlight that was pouring down from high up in front of them, but he was looking down to the side to lock gazes with Tsuna so he didn't need to squint against the glare. Unlike the young boss-to-be, who had to crane his neck to look up at him and got an eyeful of the sun.

Distracted from their half of a conversation, Tsuna went on to think he'd never been this _close_ to him before. His insides tickled when he felt the man so acutely physically and with the strange, strangers' sort of intimacy from that moment before, standing beside the half-naked man in the pool with their eyes locked suddenly felt very intimate.

It suddenly hit him that he'd _felt_ that impossible Italian skin. He'd traced his fingers down Xanxus' bare back, along the sun-warmed, olive brown skin that belonged to… him. And only him. The teenager had never imagined that that would happen for _real_.

(Obviously he had imagined that it would happen. A lot. _Blush_)

He couldn't believe it now that he had done it.

Tsuna started to feel a little dizzy. He briefly forgot that Xanxus was still waiting for an answer as his mind re-provided him with the memory from just a few seconds ago (full force, he might add).

Clearly, he hadn't been approaching the moment like _that,_ before.

He didn't think he should do _that_ now either! That had been a sort of deep, meaningful thoughts moment and it had been painful for Xanxus too to be reminded, no doubt, of all that stuff!

He shouldn't start thinking about how _nice_ Xanxus' skin actually felt, so soft that it didn't seem to suit him and so _unreal_, or how light-headed it made him to even _try_ to realize what he'd actually _done_ just there, and how awesome it was that he wasn't even _dead_-

_That would be disrespectful to Xanxus-san! It would be! Right? Right!_

He'd never touched anyone like that before! And for the first person to be the man who had come closest to killing him of all the many people who'd tried and was the first m-m-m-man he was crushing on so badly... This situation was just so weird. His entire life had been weird since the moment Reborn had hopped into it, but this was an entirely different _level_ of weird.

It was so _tempting_ to think about the softness of Xanxus' skin, he'd never done something like that before…

'…Should I take your hyperventilating as a _no_, runt?'

Tsuna snapped out of his thoughts with a smart-sounding 'Huh?' and attempted to save face by quickly stumbling forward and accidentally dunking himself. He broke the surface again, spluttering and spitting out pool water.

He should probably not let himself be distracted again.

Half-ashamed of himself and blushing bright red, Tsuna promised himself to think about what had happened later, in his room or something. Right now was definitely not the time, what with all the pool water and Xanxus around. Half-naked, Xanxus. He might add.

_Ah! No, Tsuna, bad!_

Xanxus had crossed his arms over his chest somewhat tightly (oh, he was so _toned_, his muscles looked so, so, were there words for that? _Smooth_, andand, roundish… no, uhh.. _bulging_?) and was breathing through his nose rather heavily, so Tsuna decided he better start doing something right, sometime soon. With nervous glances at the short-tempered man, Tsuna waded around him as quickly as he could without tripping over the water and started heading for the deeper end.

Xanxus watched him go, mentally sighing. He wondered if he should really let the brat go off like that, since he'd been watching him with Squalo and he apparently truly sucked. Well, fuck it, he'd just drag him out before he lost consciousness. CPR wasn't really an appealing thought. Both because of the obvious, though the Varia leader was professional enough not to be bothered by such a fake kiss, but also because he would be saving the future Tenth Vongola boss's life (who was not Xanxus), which was something he was (thus) simply against on principle.

With a long deep sigh, Xanxus dragged a wet hand all the way from the back of his head over his face.

His skin was itching where the little brat had touched it. He had to resist the urge to roll his shoulders and brush the feeling away with his fingers, for as far as he would be able to reach it.

The short runt was already inhaling water, he noted to himself.

With a last, quiet sigh, Xanxus resolutely shoved the unpleasant feelings aside and tried to keep his attention focussed on the deep end of the pool. His little _trainee_ was seriously hopeless.

…. If he was this bad at learning how to fucking swim, he could only wonder how long the rest of his training would take. How did that arcobaleno do it?

How did that arcobaleno _stand_ it? (Did the runt go up to _him_ and start, for example, feeling his sideburns?)

…and that brat was going to need his fucking pyjamas again tonight, because the way this was looking, he wouldn't have time to send him into town with Squalo. Well, he could just pause the lessons…

Xanxus looked at Tsuna as the brat spat out water, dunked himself accidentally (…again.), came back up and coughed out more water, pale lanky limbs flying out in all directions, and repeated (...again.).

…On the other hand, this was satisfying. He'd get tired of it soon enough, until then he could watch the brat suffer.

The sun beat down pleasantly on his back and his shadow rippled on the water.

He had considered sending the brat out with Bel to go get some clothes. He had a fashion sense to bow down to, which compensated as a satisfactory excuse for Xanxus' simple desire to see the horror on the brunet's face when he found out he'd have to be alone, in a town he didn't know and where he couldn't talk to anyone (nor comprehensibly cry for help to anyone), with Bel.

But then he'd decided that it would certainly do more harm than good, especially considering the crazy prince's tendency to duck into obscure alleyways and kill thugs every now and then. Also not so obscure alleyways. Whichever opportunity arose. The trauma that that elaborate killing would cause would probably set the brat back all of the few lessons he'd had so far.

Xanxus had no doubt in his mind that Bel would have loved to go with the young _heir_. It was really too bad he had to keep the brat healthy mentally as well. (Something he didn't manage to do for his subordinate. But Bel seemed happy. He smiled a lot at least. And Xanxus wasn't a fucking psychiatrist.)

At least he would be able to beat him up when they would get around to their sparring sessions. If he got him up to par he would be able to go all out, too. That would be satisfying.

The Varia leader rolled his shoulders again, the itchy feeling not leaving, and stared up at the clear blue sky with shadows in his crimson eyes. A quiet breath left him.

* * *

><p>Two stories higher, Squalo was looking down at the scene through one of the tall windows, metal-grey eyes narrow and calculating.<p>

It wasn't like he hadn't picked up on the pattern of Xanxus turning his head and Tsuna suddenly, inexplicably taking a nose dive.

* * *

><p>To be Continued~<p>

Lucky you, I have chapter six up too~~ Sorry for the changing of this chapter so many times- it annoyed me too, so let's say we're even? :P I just couldn't get it the way I wanted it. Now I hope I'm satisfied. In any case, Chapter 6 will be up in a bit, so I hope that'll placate the readers who need to be placated!

I hope everyone is satisfied with this version (I _really_ do, _hurgh_). I'll read it back in a few days and see if I am :P

I just want to say, that the people I see coming back every or some of the chapters to review, make my day. I really love to see the people who follow this story per chapter, and _that_ there are people who do that! Thank you for your reviews, and I love you :) heehee.

Even though it's the third try (and maybe even _because_ it is), please review! :D

~Cheers!

Dirkje


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hi, my sweets! So, another change in the line-up, and this may happen more from now on. I've got a lot of stuff done, right up until they do/or don't get together (mwuahahahaha, thought I was gonna tell you there, did ya?). These are written down in one-shots, sort of. The chapters will no longer all follow each other directly. Anyway, it'll still be chronologically lined up, which is why every now and then I'll replace a chapter and move up the chapters. Whenever this happens, I will let you know through the author's note in the last chapter. Like I've done now, in what is now chapter 7. Anyway, if you don't get it, I'm sorry and please PM so I can make it clear!

Basically, sometimes I will put a new scene up as a new chapter, but it will be put in between the chapters that were already uploaded. Anyway, I'll stop trying to explain now.

Disclaimer still applies. Yeah.

Now then, about this chapter: please forgive the lack of description and sort of rushed-ness. It was fairly awkward for me to write, but it's sort of crucial. It really is. Sooooo I hope you can bare with it and even enjoy it! More chapter are coming up~~! Hihi.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Chapter 6 - <em>Mothers are crazy<em>

Tsuna ducked in a flash when something was once more tossed at his face in the early mornings. This time it turned out to be a cell phone rather than a pair of swimming trunks.

The young brunet, still sleepy, picked it up and sent his tutor (sitting sprawled out over the sofa, as appeared to be the norm) a shaky questioning look.

'Your mother called.' Xanxus provided in clipped tones.

Tsuna gaped at him.

The idea of his mom having the number of the Varia household and the idea that she had _called_ _Xanxus_ were just too weird.

...Judging by the pissed off look on the man's scarred features, his sweet mom hadn't thought of the concept of time zones.

His mom calling Xanxus _at three in the morning_ was even weirder.

'U-Uhm,' Tsuna asked while gesturing at the archway he'd just entered the lounge through. Xanxus closed his (probably tired) eyes and grunted at him, leaning his head back against the backrest. Perhaps he was going to take a nap.

After a lingering glance at the Varia leader, Tsuna quickly scurried out of the room. Where would he find privacy for his call? His room was a nice place.

So Tsuna went back up the stairs and sought his way through the huge-ass mansion again.

...

'Sawada residence!' A bubbly voice, slightly deformed by the speakers, cheerily greeted him. Tsuna felt a smile tug at his lips at the bittersweet feeling of homesickness.

'Hi mom.' He said softly, his caramel gaze dropping to the floor. He was standing in the centre of his room, all doors except for the ones to his balcony closed. A nice, warm breeze smelling of Italy blew in.

'TSU-CHAN!'

A laugh bubbled out of the teenager's throat. His mom's instant shout was welcoming. 'Oh, my dear, sweet Tsu-chan, are you alright over there?'

The brunet scratched the back of his head, half in humour at his mom's continued blissful ignorance and half sheepish. 'I'm good, mom.'

'Is that man taking good care of you? I know I asked him to already, but I wanna hear from you, sweetie.'

Silence. Tsuna was briefly gobsmacked. His _mom_ had asked "that man"- which meant _Xanxus_, right? - to _take good care of him_?!

And actually... "I know I asked him to already" implied that she'd gotten a _positive answer_!

He felt a little faint and he wasn't sure why. Maybe because of the horrid image of his poor innocent mom interacting with the super dangerous Xanxus-san.

'Wh-When, uh... Mom, did you ask him that just now?'

'No, no, honey. I asked him before you two left!'

Tsuna's jaw dropped.

His poor mom had been in the same room when asking Xanxus-san that sort of question?!

'M-Mom-' he stuttered, realizing halfway through that she must be alive, because she was calling him.

'Oh, honey, are you hurt?'

'N-No, no! I'm fine, mom, really. H-How... how are you-things over there?'

His voice was a little shaky- he was still trying to get over that mental image. But his mom sounded alright...

Tsuna got the horrible mental picture of his mom bustling about the kitchen, all happy and bubbly with her arms in two identical casts and bandages everywhere. He shuddered.

'Oh, we're fine, honey. Your lovely friends keep coming over and asking about you! Reborn-chan said not to tell them where you are, though, because you are preparing a surprise!'

Tsuna felt his gut sink at that. Stupid meddlesome arcobaleno. If Reborn had said he was preparing a surprise... that could only spell trouble for the (possible near, but he didn't know) future.

'Hmm... ne, Tsu-kun. Reborn-chan told me something...'

All of a sudden, the teenager felt his gut start to crawl. With a growing sense of dread, he listened to his mother's words.

Suddenly, she squealed.

'Sweetie, are you really gay?'

Tsuna choked on his spit and nearly hurled the phone away from his person instinctively, all the while resisting the urge to drop to his knees dramatically.

'It would explain so many things! Honey, I love you no matter what, you'll always be my sweet, dear Tsu-kun!'

Tsuna groaned in protest to this conversation. His mother was demanding an answer through the phone.

He'd never even thought of himself as gay. Not that he thought he _wasn't_ gay (hellooo, huge crush on big, manly Xanxus-san, here), he just hadn't thought about it.

But then his mom dropped another bombshell:

'Reborn-chan told me you have a crush on someone, sweetie. Will you pwease tell your beloved mommy who it is?'

Tsuna felt like dying. No, scratch that, he felt like killing Reborn. But since he was pretty sure the infuriating arcobaleno could still kick his ass while his little hands were tied behind his back, the young unwilling heir decided against it.

He'd been in this dilemma many a time before.

'Uhm. Gee. Mom…'

He had never wanted to have this conversation! Well... at least his mom wasn't against it. But he wondered how supportive she'd be if she found out his crush was the very man who'd hauled him off to Italy.

Whom she'd apparently asked to take good care of him. Holy crap. His mom was so crazy.

'Uhm, mom... I'd... rather not tell you, okay? N-Not yet, at least? He doesn't know and... I-I really don't think... that it's a good idea.'

He swallowed and waited for his mom to break her pensive silence.

'Okay, sweetie.' She finally said gently. Tsuna sagged and heaved a sigh of relief. It would be far too troublesome to discuss- he didn't want to know how his mom would respond to her son wanting to date a scary man like the Varia leader (even if she seemed to be ignorant to the threat he exuded...). 'Just know that I support you, okay? You can always come to me for everything.'

His mother's loving voice was warm and comforting. Tsuna bit his smiling lips, embarrassed to feel tears coming to his caramel eyes. He was really happy with his mom's response to his... uhh... situation? He'd never wanted to tell her, but this was actually better.

'Thanks, mom.' His voice was soft, heart-felt.

'Of course, sweetie! You'll always be mommy's little boy!'

Tsuna laughed along with his mom's bubbling happy laughter.

'Ah... well, honey, is there anything you'd like to talk about?'

Tsuna scratched his bushy mane, thinking it over. Swimming lessons with Squalo, meeting the Ninth with Xanxus, eating breakfast and dinner in the kitchen-

'Well... the kitchen staff is really nice. I get along with them well.'

'The kitchen staff?'

'Yeah, it's such a long way from any room to the kitchen here that I just eat there.'

'On your own?'

Tsuna was briefly confused.

'No, with the people there.' It was all true, they were really nice.

It wasn't like Tsuna wanted to eat his meals alongside the way too scary Varia officers and Xanxus. He knew they ate their meals together and he didn't exactly want to be a part of that no doubt violent procedure.

'Okay. Who else have you met?'

The slightly interrogation-like quality of her tone made Tsuna sweatdrop.

'Ehh, just people, mom.' Creepy Bel-person, loud and strict Squalo who could actually teach, the Ninth who was his grandpa, scary intimidating handsome Xanxus.

Suddenly he wanted to tell his mom that he wanted to ask his grandpa for pictures of a scar-less Xanxus. It would be nice to be able to really, lightly talk about it with someone. Only that would probably give him away and he knew that his friends came over a lot and the way his mom tended to blurt out embarrassing things. About Tsuna, especially.

The brunet shuddered when he imagined Gokudera's reaction to such news. If his friends found out he had a whale-sized crush on the Varia leader...

Hurgh. _Shudder_.

'What's it like to be there, honey? Is Italy a nice place?'

Tsuna wondered if his father had ever taken her there, despite her question. Maybe not- to keep her as far away from the danger zone as possible. If anyone saw them together that would make her an immediate target after all. As it was, Tsuna didn't know how it was that no-one came after his family. But he was very grateful for it.

'Ahh... I'm not sure yet. I haven't been out much. ...Uhm, Xanxus-san and Squalo-san are teaching me how to swim.'

It was safe to tell her this much, right?

'Hmm?' She sounded excited. 'Really, honey? How nice! Who's Squalo-san?'

'Ah, well...' A fanatical homicidal swordsman, the right hand man of the leader of an assassin's organization. Yamamoto knows him. '...a good teacher. Ehm, he's a friend of Xanxus-san.'

'Mah, what does he look like, Tsu-kun? I'm really curious!'

Tsuna sweatdropped again. Well, this would be something.

'Long, silvery hair- like Gokudera-kun's, but a little lighter-, uhh he's really tall, like two or three heads taller than even you, mom.' Shut up, to him she was tall. She was the tallest of their family. Ah, well, his father was probably taller, but... he didn't count as family. (Cold Tuna is cold.)

'And, uhm... gee, I don't know. Lanky, I guess.' He added, trying to satisfy his mother's curiosity.

'Hmm? Do you think he's handsome, Tsu-kun?'

'Gah! Mom! Eeeeeewww...'

He'd blurted it out before even thinking about it. His cheeks grew very warm.

'Hahaha!' His mom laughed, elated, without any mockery. 'Sorry honey, couldn't resist.'

Tsuna grumbled just because and kicked the floor with his toes, his cheeks burning even hotter.

Ehhh, Squalo-san. Nooo... But then, he never even looked at anyone other than Xanxus like that. ...He supposed Squalo was kind of handsome. But, meh. Tsuna blushed about the novelty of such freedom- that was an entirely new way to look at people and he liked being completely free in his opinion.

'Soooo... What do you think of the other guys?' Suddenly, she gasped. 'Oh honey, we can talk boys!'

Tsuna's jaw frankly hit the floor. 'M-Mom-' he stuttered.

'Even though your daddy is the only one for me, now we can relate! Mommy can understand you better now, honey, oh, I'm so happy!'

The blush really wasn't given a fair chance to go away. 'Mom, please, I...' but now that he thought about it, it was actually a really nice idea. His mom _could_ understand him, probably, or in any case they could share their opinions...

Tsuna bit his lip. This crush of his and everything he thought of and about Xanxus was dying to get out of him, to be shared!

The brunet squirmed a little and then decided, hurried over to his bed and sat down on the very edge of it, excitement filling his gut.

'Mom, there's this guy...' He waited a second to hear how she'd respond.

'Yes, honey?' Clearly excited at the prospect of hearing her son's thoughts on the guy he apparently fancied.

'Well... he's really strong.' Was the first thing he blurted out and then it felt like he couldn't stop the flow of words. 'And he's so handsome, mom, he's-'

He cut himself off, embarrassed at how he'd sounded, so- eager and stuff. But then his mom made an encouraging noise and he happily continued.

'I didn't know I could feel like that about someone. And he's coarse and rough and kind of angry all the time, haha, but he...' Tsuna bit his bottom lip and thought about all the things that made Xanxus, Xanxus. 'He's like this really strong person. He's been through a lot, but he's still going and he never stops for anyone. He doesn't ever let insecurity stop him, he just... _does_ it. Whatever it is. He's so different from me, mom. I've never seen him hesitate. He...

'I don't know.' Tsuna whispered. 'He just... I just... I really want to get to know him. _Really_.'

'What's he look like?' Her voice was quiet, she was whispering like him, but excited.

Tsuna opened his mouth and was about to give a detailed report on Xanxus' features when he realized that really wasn't a good idea.

'A-Ah... you know. Really handsome.' He said lamely. His mom made a high-pitched humming noise.

'Oh, honey, are you not telling me because I've seen him?'

Tsuna gaped like a fish.

'Ah-Uh-I-Uhm?'

She said _seen_ him, not _know_ him. So she was already assuming it was someone not close to them.

He had to take a gamble now. His hyper intuition told him she was almost fully convinced of the correct answer already. _Holy shit..._ he gasped in his mind.

'Mom, do you promise not to tell _anyone_? I swear, they'd blow up!'

'I _promise_ honey, you have my word.' She swore to him. Tsuna closed his eyes, took a deep breath, let it out and took the leap.

'It's Xanxus-san, mom.' He gasped out.

It was a major weight off his small shoulders and skinny chest to finally confess it to someone who was a part of his real life. Reborn, mafia, hitman, tutor, did not count as real. There were so many crazy things that happened because of and with Reborn that the arcobaleno easily accepted as day-to-day life, that this confession just seemed completely normal. But confessing to his normal-life mom that he had a huge crush on the boss of an elite assassination squad, a very dangerous and morally skewed man, that was real. That she didn't know as much about Xanxus didn't matter- she certainly had seen that he was dangerous, right? And even if _that_ hadn't gotten through to her, he'd still finally told someone who would understand the gravity of the situation, that he was crushing on a man.

'Oh sweetie, I'm so happy for you.' He could hear the bright smile in his mother's voice, but also that something was coming. Curiously, he listened.

'How old is Xanxus-chan, sweetie?'

A couple of things happened then.

Firstly, Tsuna had to swallow the fact and come to terms with the same fact, that his mother was calling Xanxus Xanxus-chan.

That was undoable.

Setting that aside and moving on to "secondly", his mom appeared to be more concerned with the age of the man her son was crushing on, rather than the fact that he carried around guns and produced an atmosphere of criminal authority.

Though, come to think of it, he hadn't seen those guns when he'd still been at home, during such events as Xanxus dragging him out from under his bed. Later, sure, on the airport and after that. But not at home.

Maybe Reborn had told Xanxus to conceal them for him mom's sake. He would've.

Anyway...

'Uh, I actually don't know, mom. Does it- uhh, does it matter? I mean, really?'

He hoped she'd say no. He wanted her to keep supporting him. He already had enough doubts of his own.

'It does, honey. But that's okay. He didn't _look_ too old. Is he nice to you?'

Oh, his mother was really asking all the wrong questions.

'Oh, moooommm...' but he knew she would get stern with him if he didn't answer. '...nicer than I expected. He isn't mean to me, in any case.'

Unless you counted the tie that he sent Bel after him. Which he was not going to tell his mother about.

'I...' He wanted to defend Xanxus's behaviour. If he didn't watch out, his mom might call Xanxus himself and demand explanations, as well as that he would be nicer to her son in the future, _young_ _man_. '...He's got reasons to be... grumpy, mom.' He couldn't exactly explain Xanxus' entire history to her. But maybe he could make it sound like something she would accept. 'He's just... a bit of a grumpy person.'

'Alright, Tsu-kun.' She said, which immediately set all his alarm bells ringing, but he knew he could only make it worse, not any better. He left it at that and resorted to hoping she wouldn't call Xanxus personally.

'Remember you promised, mom. Not to _anyone_!'

'I know honey, I won't tell anybody. Your secret's safe with me! Doesn't Reborn-chan know?'

'Uhm, yeah, but I made him promise not to tell anyone either.'

'Okay honey. Ne, do you have any ideas on how to get your man?'

Tsuna choked in horror. 'Mom, _no_!'

'Why not? Oh dear, you're not telling me you're not planning on getting together!'

Apparently the age thing was definitely not keeping her from being supportive.

'Mom...'

Well... he could share his biggest concern since she wanted to help.

'I... I don't think... I can't really imagine him... liking me.' His bottom lip jutted out without him knowing it. He heard his mom make an indecipherable noise.

'Actually sweetie... I think you might be exactly his type.'

'Ehhh?'

'He's so big and manly and you're so small and sweet- everybody knows you're a boy, sweetie, don't worry –and a man like him might be looking for a guy like you! You won't know until you try, honey, that much is for sure.'

Tsuna didn't know what to say in the face of his mother's astounding optimism.

'You know, the first step is to get him to notice you that way. He's your tutor, so he might not have realized you could be something else to him.' Okay, so Reborn had told her that Xanxus was his tutor, apparently. 'Try to catch his attention in a possible-boyfriend kind of way. Teachers tend not to consider their students as anything else!'

Caramel eyes blinked in surprise. That actually... sounded logical.

...What sort of thing was he supposed to do to grab Xanxus' attention in _that way_?

'Uhm... like what then, mom?'

'Flirt with him, of course!'

Tsuna fell of his bed. Like literally. The floor greeted him with a loud thud.

'Mom! What the-' He abruptly cut himself off by choking, lest he incite the wrath of his mother by saying a bad word.

'What?' She replied innocently.

'Guhhh...'

Tsuna rolled his head around on the floor, trying to deny (his existence) that his mom had just told him to _flirt_ with _Xanxus-san_. No _way_, did she just- Omigod, that was just- so _embarrassing_.

He couldn't even flirt with cute, innocent, harmless girls who at the most would run away from him screaming that he was a pervert! What the heck was he supposed to do with a- with a-

With _Xanxus_?!

'_Mom_. How could I possibly flirt with him? You've _seen_ the guy, haven't you?' Exasperation dripped off his words. 'He's not exactly _receptive_ to- well, anything!'

'Nonsense, Tsu-kun. You don't know how men think.'

'... Uhh, mom?'

'Men other than you and your friends, sweetie. _Do_ you know how Xanxus-chan thinks?"

Tsuna tried not to shudder at the way she was calling his tutor Xanxus-chan, _again_. '...No.' He admitted reluctantly.

'Exactly! Now, listen to me...'

With equal parts horror and intrigue, Tsuna listened. His mom did her very best (and her very enthusiastic best) to teach him how to _woo_ "his man".

Just imagine what is going to be unleashed upon the Varia headquarters the coming days.

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><p>Soooo, there you go. Sorry if it's anticlimactic and whatnot- anyway, this explains how Tsuna knew what to do with Squalo the other night- or, the coming night. Hurrhurr, anyway, uhm, there you go.<p>

Please drop a review!

Oh yeah, and guess what-

_There will be flirting. There will be some serious unreciprocated courting going on. Or will there?_

~Cheers!

Dirkje


	7. Chapter 7

**THIS IS NOT THE NEW CHAPTER PEOPLE! THERE IS A NEW CHAPTER 6! :D EXPLANATIONS ARE THERE, PLEASE HIT THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER BUTTON!**

Aaaannnddddd here is chapter 6 as promised!

Please enjoy!

(Disclaimer in previous chapters still applies.)

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><p>Chapter 7<p>

'Uhhh, u-uh-uhm… Gran- uhh…' Tsuna stammered, wringing his hands because he was so nervous about the request he was about to make. He glanced from his hands and the floor to his grandfather and back, not sure what to do with himself there. They were in Timoteo's ornately decorated study. The Ninth Vongola boss was sitting on the comfortable looking black leather sofa lining the wall while his heir stood at the door, fiddling with his fingers. Timoteo looked fairly amused by his grandson's blushing and stammering, the man's intuition on both mysterious and grandfatherly level already telling him that there was nothing major going on.

'I'd love for you to keep calling me grandpa, Tsunayoshi. No matter what else I am, that will never change.'

Tsuna smiled shyly and relaxed somewhat.

'Did you want to ask me something?' Timoteo continued and patted the seat next to him. 'Come sit.'

The brunet rubbed his nose and scurried over to the sofa, still avoiding looking the grey man directly in the eye.

Once he was seated, discovering that the sofa was even more comfortable than it looked, he felt a lot more relaxed. The atmosphere became familial, the Vongola-ness falling away. Tsuna grinned shyly at his grandfather.

'Uhm. So, I... I've been wanting to ask you something, a-about... uhm, Xanxus-san.'

He wondered if his grandpa would be defensive, protective, or displeased that he was asking about his adopted son. He could tell that the old, old man really loved Xanxus, unconditionally and just like a son. But it turned out Tsuna needn't have worried.

'Oh?' If anything, he sounded amused and like he'd known it was coming. 'And what would you like to know about Xanxus?'

It was so different to hear Timoteo talk about Xanxus. The way he talked about him really sounded like a dad talking about his son. Tsuna had only ever heard Reborn, his guardians and the Varia talk about the Varia leader and it had always sounded... wary. Awed. Fearful. The Varia only slightly so, and mixed with tons of respect (and Tsuna had the sneaking suspicion that there was also love in there for them, if well hidden so as to not look sappy). Apart from the Varia though, people talked about him as though he was a bad, maybe even evil man, separate from all other beings, his very own entity. Hardly like any other human. And certainly never like... like someone you trusted. Timoteo talked about him like someone he'd be entirely comfortable with at his unprotected back, someone...

Not that he trusted Xanxus would never attack him, should he give him the chance and reason to, but that it was alright no matter what.

He loved him anyway. He _trusted_ him anyway.

Tsuna couldn't help but think that it was much fairer. Timoteo clearly did see Xanxus as any other human with faults and virtues, influenced by the world and others to become who they were. Not like someone inherently bad at the core.

It was refreshing to talk with someone about Xanxus like that.

'Uhm, well. I was wondering...'

Mortified, Tsuna realized he was beginning to blush. He held a fist to his mouth and cleared his throat.

'...wondering what Xanxus-san looked like, ah, b-before he got the scars.' He glances at Timoteo, imagining that that would bring up painful memories and quickly added something.

'I-I just can't, uhm, imagine it.' He finished sheepishly.

Against his expectations, Timoteo genuinely smiled at him and resettled against the backrest.

'I imagine you are asking for a picture?'

Tsuna didn't understand why he was so amused by his request, but the old man's bright eyes were sparkling.

'Uhh... yeah?'

Timoteo didn't need any more prompting and got up, moving towards one of the heavy bookcases lining the opposite wall. They were filled to the brim with books, most of them looking ancient, bound in flaking or well-preserved leather.

Tsuna watched with curious eyes as his grandfather pulled a particularly old, very thick book off of a shelf and gently set it aside. Then he reached into the niche, felt around for a little and took out a rectangular, flat box, about the size of a small book, and brought it back to the sofa and Tsuna.

Tsuna started to feel excited (and a little exasperated that, as he'd thought, the Ninth had taken precautions to keep the photos safe), sitting on the edge of his seat impatiently. He was so focussed on the flat, evenly brown box that he completely missed the smile on Timoteo's face.

Tsuna nearly exploded from the anticipation while the grey man calmly took his time sitting back down before slooooowly taking the lid off. The brunet didn't realize he was leaning into his lap to get a look, missing the shaking of Timoteo's chest from suppressed laughter.

With the utmost care, Timoteo lifted the picture laying on top out of the box.

Tsuna sucked in a breath and held it in as he stared at an unfamiliar familiar face.

It was Xanxus, probably, definitely, but...

He was a kid. A little older... or just as old as Lambo was now. Nine-ish.

It was so weird to see Xanxus-san, big and strong and terrifying people away and independent, as a little kid: looking up at a much younger Timoteo who's hand was laying on Xanxus' pitch-black hair, those crimson eyes round and more like wine than a blazing red fire. His olive skin was of a lighter shade than it was now and he was looking at his (probably sparklingly new) father with a sceptical, yet hopeful shine in his big eyes. There were no scars, anywhere. He was short, of course, only coming up to Timoteo's waist. Timoteo himself had a thick bush of shiny black hair, his startlingly handsome face void of the wrinkles he now had and showing resemblances with Iemetsu and even a bit with Tsuna himself. The little Xanxus looked in nothing like the man next to him and yet, it was a fitting picture. It felt right. Timoteo carefully set the old picture aside and picked up the next.

Here Xanxus was a little older, by a few years. His bright, intelligent but haughty eyes stared straight into the camera's lens, defiant and like he was just daring the entire world to underestimate him, to make him show his strength.

So young and already fighting the whole world. Tsuna shook his head slightly and decided just to focus on the child's appearance instead. He was maybe twelve, eyes still round but narrowed in a defiant glare. His entire demeanour was... distrustful, scared. He looked like a kid who thought he had to fight everyone around him tooth and nail to keep something that he could keep as his own.

This one was set aside quicker than the first. Tsuna's eyes widened like they were about to pop out of his face.

There was Xanxus, probably the same age as the previous photo, but- he was- he was- _he was-!_

The young Xanxus was looking up at whoever was taking the picture (though Tsuna had a pretty good guess as to who it was), his bright wine-coloured eyes shining, glimmers in the irises, his little nose scrunching up as he grinned boyishly up at something behind the camera. He was positively _beaming_, locks of his black hair falling into his eyes.

It was breathtaking. Awing.

Awe-struck, Tsuna reached out a finger and pointed it at the happy boy, captured in a rare moment, careful not to touch the old photograph and perhaps damage it. Timoteo made a soft noise of understanding and agreement.

'You should see this one, too...' he murmured, the sound of memories in his voice. He carefully flipped through the photographs, setting the ones he wasn't looking for aside. Tsuna strongly hoped that he would get to see those too, because Xanxus was in all of them. Then Timoteo unearthed a picture, it looked like it was one of the last, and showed it to him.

'He was seventeen years old here.' The Ninth told him quietly. 'It was a year before he'd find out he'd been adopted. ...I haven't seen him smile since.'

His voice was filled with pain and sorrow and regret, and nearly inaudible. Tsuna didn't know what to do for his grandfather. He looked at him, trying to see if tere was something that would tell him something he could do.

Timoteo just smiled sadly and gently patted him on the head.

'It is my burden to bear, Tsunayoshi. It is painful to remember, but pain allows healing.'

'I... Xanxus-san seems to... like you better.' Tsuna fished for words awkwardly. 'When we arrived and you welcomed us. He didn't seem... hateful. Like, uhm, like before.'

He didn't know if it was his place to talk about these painful things to his grandfather, since he knew so little about what was going on, but it seemed to him that this would be a positive thing to hear. It really had seemed like that. Xanxus had also been much more polite than Tsuna could have imagined him to be to his dad.

It had been the right thing to say:

Timoteo smiled at him, a hopeful, happy glint returning to his grey-brown eyes. 'He does seem to be less hateful, doesn't he? Seems less angry as well.'

He oozed contentedness next to Tsuna on the sofa, his eyes crinkling and wrinkles fanning out from the corners of them.

Tsuna took a look at the photograph of Xanxus when he was seventeen years old.

He was standing in what were probably the gardens around the Vongola estate- No, wait, he recognized those bushes, and was that- Holy _cow_.

Xanxus was standing in the _Varia's_ gardens, hands stuffed comfortably in his pockets, shoulders pulled back and relaxed while someone who looked undeniably like Squalo and yet so different stood grinning a ways behind the black-haired Italian, a sword slung casually over his farthest shoulder.

Xanxus looked like he was at home, Tsuna realized. For the first time in these pictures. Only then did he notice the red insignia emblazoned on the sleeve and breast of his pristine white dress shirt.

'He'd just enlisted with the Varia. It was the first time he'd found a place where he truly felt accepted for who he was. Not as my son, not as my adopted son or any of the things other Mafiosi thought of him for that. He didn't need to be anybody's son there, it's not what earns one a place among the Varia. Xanxus was accepted there only for things that _he_ is.'

Timoteo stroked the picture, where Xanxus was depicted with a sharp, proud smirk (proud of him_self_) in which you could vaguely see the boyish happy grin shining through. Tsuna noticed with a jolt of surprise that the Ninth was _grateful_. He thanked the Varia for giving Xanxus a home where he hadn't been able to. And maybe it was still the only place for him within the Vongola. Maybe because he just- maybe because there was no place in Vongola's _midst_ where Xanxus could truly be himself. But Tsuna wondered. Because he was pretty sure that the only reason there was no such place, was because the members of the Vongola still refused to accept him as one of their own. If they had, Xanxus would always have been at home here. It was why Timoteo, on his own, couldn't give Xanxus that place among the Vongola. To be within the family, one needed that family's acceptance and love- not just that of their boss.

Tsuna looked back at the picture.

He had barely recognized Squalo, 'cause...

His face looked much younger, and shorter too. His hair was almost white and short, peeking up at the back. His grin was just as sharp as present-day Squalo, but- still rounder. It felt rounder, his demeanour much more open and easygoing, intimidating and _challenging_. Threatening in the way that he invited your challenge. _Bring it on_.

The Squalo Tsuna was familiar with had a much more dangerous aura, telling people to piss off or he'd kick them aside (though he still hunted and welcomed challenging opponents with a passionate glee). He was angry now, while in the picture, he just looked enthusiastic with a fanatical gleam in his bared grinning teeth and eyes.

They looked so much happier.

Hell, scratch that, they look _happy_.

It was... a wake-up call, sort of. Tsuna had always known and thought that the Varia were human more than the people around him did, but he'd never thought of them as _this_ human before. So young and inexperienced still.

'Wao.' He whispered, staring at the paradise-like scene.

It was so normal.

And if he looked at this now, he thought that, perhaps, Squalo's change had happened because of Xanxus's. They looked like really close friends in this picture – the distance between them didn't mean there was no bond.

They looked like brothers, Tsuna realized, shocked at the discovery. He shared is with his grandfather.

'Indeed,' he said softly, 'they were very much like brothers. It was the happiest time of the both of them that I've witnessed. Squalo had never forgiven me for locking Xanxus up in that ice and the years I took away from them both. I'm not going to ask him to either.'

Tsuna had never realized that Squalo cared about his friend turned boss this deeply, that they went this far back. He'd never thought that Squalo's devotion was more than that of a subordinate, that it was that of a friend, a brother. It did fit. He wondered how bad it felt for Xanxus, since he could imagine the swordsman's feelings fairly easily. To have turned so angry and distant, to have shut himself off and changed the closeness of their bond. Like losing a brother, a good friend who understand you and has got your back. (But Tsuna knew nothing of what had happened between them, so he couldn't know how things really were between them now.) Tsuna himself also still couldn't understand how you could be someone's boss and close friend at the same time. Give your friends orders. How weird was that? Wouldn't it change the relationship completely? He guessed that's what people meant when they said it's lonely at the top.

'Grandpa...' he started hesitantly, turning away from the happy picture to the grey man, 'what's it like... how do you... be someone's friend and boss at the same time? Doesn't that screw up the rela- uh, I mean, doesn't that mess up the relationship?'

Come to think of it, he would be giving Xanxus orders too every now and then, once he was the boss of the Vongola. Xanxus was free to decline up to a certain point, but Tsuna would definitely stand above him on the hierarchy ladder.

That would be even weirder in a romantic relationship (not that he was expecting really get one of those with Xanxus, as much as he wished he would).

Timoteo settled his hands in his lap, in front of the picture box, and pulled a thoughtful face.

'Hmm. By giving them orders while still respecting them and who they are, dear boy. And by them respecting you both as their boss and as who you are beside that. It depends on the people concerned whether you can be both. Not everyone can do that. But there are plenty who can.'

Tsuna sagged a little, relaxing and relieved. That sounded doable enough. He didn't want to lose his friends over being a boss.

'Also, it is a learning curve, as with all things. Some may learn to accept it and others may learn that it is not something they want or can do. You figure it out as you go, as with many things. Their own acceptance and lack thereof is entirely up to them.'

That... sounded logical, in any case. Yah, he would remember that.

'Thanks, grandpa.' They smiled at each other. 'That really helps.'

Only then did he realize that he'd been looking at a scar-free Xanxus, one not so oung that he couldn't really recognize him, without even taking in the difference.

He looked kind of cool. Then, he did so now as well, but differently. His overall skin tone was the same as his present-day self, darker than when he was a kid.

Tsuna kept getting distracted by short-haired Squalo. He looked mischievous, boyish, up for anything he deemed fun. He wondered if there was anything left of that boy inside Squalo. Every now and then, Tsuna saw something in him that made him think there was.

Xanxus' hair had been a little shosrter, but not much different. It had always been shaggy. There were no feathers, no raccoon tail (presumably from a raccoon). It seemed like he'd only just dressed himself in the Varia uniform, that the picture had been taken for that occasion. Squalo had red insignias on his dress shirt too, Tsuna saw. He was too far away to be able to see the white "VARIA" on those insignias, unlike Xanxus. They were both wearing black pants too. Leather, by the looks of it. No ties. The sword Squalo was holding was a double-edged one, just like the one he used now.

It was so cool to see them like this. They were so cool, together, like a shrewd, powerful, unstoppable duo. Tsuna was awestruck again.

Even the picture showed their strength. Tsuna was hardly ever intimidating and the pictures of him... Nana really knew the best (worst) moments to pop up with a camera.

Anyway.

Tsuna wished he had a picture of Xanxus for himself. Not one of him when he was younger, but one of him now. Keeping it under his pillow or something. He blushed slightly in embarrassment at the thought of it being discovered there and how horrible the repercussions might be if such an event were to occur.

He cleared his throat lightly, conscious of the Ninth sitting next to him.

'Hum, they look really cool together.' He said before thinking that maybe this wasn't the best thing to say to his grandfather, who was also Xanxus' father and in general just not his own mind.

Timoteo chuckled gently. 'That they do. They were quickly rising in the ranks, pretty much neck and neck. We were surprised when Squalo handed over the title of boss to Xanxus after defeating Tyr. That such a strong willed and independent man would choose and want to follow my son...'

Tsuna could tell that he was proud of Xanxus for having earned himself such respect. He got a feeling that he was proud of Squalo too. Naturally, if he was such a close friend of Xanxus, Timoteo would have kept an eye on him too. Both to watch, protect, and to enjoy seeing them like this, Tsuna suspected.

'Now then,' the Ninth said, picking up the stack of pictures he'd set aside earlier and setting them on his lap, 'would you like to see the rest of them as well?'

Tsuna grinned boyishly at him and that was answer enough for the old man, who smiled indulgently and settled back comfortably on the sofa.

They spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the pictures, reminiscing and sharing memories. Tsuna had never expected to get to know so much about Xanxus in one go (or at all, really).

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><p>Tsuna was just about to enter the Varia headquarters – it was late in the evening, dark outside after he'd returned from his visit to the Ninth – when he was intercepted.<p>

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a tall, slim figure stepped out of the black shadow cast by one of the four roman pillars that were lined up in front of the entrance. With his heart in his throat and his voice pinched by sudden fierce terror, he still recognized the long, straight hair that flowed behind the man, silvery-white in the moonlight. The rest of Squalo was obscured by the darkness of the night, his black uniform making it almost impossible to discern him from the shadows around him.

The man's piercing eyes looked into his sharply.

'Heeeeey. What were you doing with the Ninth?'

Tsuna swallowed at the threatening seriousness of the sword emperor. He leant back, away from him unconsciously.

'I-I-Uh?'

Squalo took a single, striding step towards the young heir, making the moonlight glint on his black uniform, gleaming with small, sharp glimmers of white. That Tsuna could make out a little better now (still only a little bit) only made him look scarier.

'Don't make me repeat myself, Sawada. Tell me.'

Squalo was seriously freaking him out. Why was this so important?

'I-I... uh-uh... why...?'

Even in the dark, he could see the way his eyes flashed.

'Hiiii! I-I mean... m-man...'

He hadn't exactly intended to tell any of them what he'd gone to the main Vongola base for. But his didn't leave him any other- well, not any other _pleasant_ options.

'I, well...' His cheeks grew hot, but thankfully Squalo wouldn't be able to see that (couldn't sharks _smell_ blood extraordinarily well?). '...I asked him for- if I could see pictures of Xanxus-san.'

After a brief, very silent silence, he hastily added, 'From before- uh, you see, without the scars... I-I couldn't imagine it... y-you see?' His voice getting smaller and smaller.

The silence was very eloquent.

'I...' Tsuna tried to make an attempt at making himself look less... whatever he now looked like to the other, but didn't know how.

'...Right. You're fucking weird, brat.'

'Guh– am not.'

He could tell Squalo was grinning in the darkness.

'Sure, brat. And? He show you anything good? You were gone half the day.'

Tsuna flailed and attempted a dash at the double doors, banging into the swordsman's arm long before he could get there.

'Heeeeeey! No running away! Fucking tell me, brat, or I'll never let you go!' Then, on what appeared to be a second thought, 'Or I'll get Bel after you!'

Tsuna squeaked at the thought and gathered his courage. With only a bit of a stumble, he turned and stepped into Squalo, pressing his much shorter (and overall smaller...) form into the man's broad chest. The commander made a slight noise of surprise, but before he took any action, Tsuna leant up on his tippy-toes and breathed, 'Are you sure, commander?'

From this uncomfortably small distance, he could see Squalo's sharp eyes widen in astonishment. The next moment Tsuna's messy tuft of brown hair disappeared through the heavy doors.

As he ran away at the highest speed he could muster, Squalo's rough laughter barked and echoed in the hall behind him. The tactician clearly understood what he'd just done.

Tsuna ducked his head, grinning and blushing, heart thumping wildly because of his reckless move. Who'd have thought that his mother's tips would've ended up being helpful quite like this?

(He just wasn't sure if Squalo wouldn't still continue this conversation some other time.)

* * *

><p>To be Continued~<p>

Please review~!

And all reviewers, *bows*, thank you very much for your reviews! I love them!

~Cheers!

Dirkje


	8. Chapter 8

**UPDATE STARTS WITH A NEW CHAPTER 6! PLEASE READ THE A/N THERE BEFORE READING ANY FURTHER!**

This fic takes place before the representative wars have taken place (even though, obviously they would have already taken place in canon-verse), Tsuna has never met Fran and doesn't know what he looks like. This part is just different from canon, but you already know it's not exactly the only part hurrhurr. Sooooo! Just to clear things up! :D

AHHAAAAHAAAA, MY FAVOURITE COUPLE IS COMING INNNNNN! MWRUAHAHAHAHAA- I CAN CHANGE THE SUMMARY NAO! :D:D:D:D

Enjoy!

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><p>Chapter 8 – <em>My new babysitters are wacko<em>

Tsuna was wandering aimlessly through the corridors, not really having anything to do but wait for Xanxus to feel like teaching him something again. Which was apparently "not going to be anytime soon, so scram, brat". So Tsuna took to wandering around, admiring or not admiring (but mostly admiring) the ornately decorated interior of the headquarters.

He wondered about the officers- only Squalo was frequently present. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of Lussuria or Levi, nor their Mist guardian. The brunet was pretty sure that the mysterious Fran had taken up the post some years ago, co-officering with the Mist arcobaleno or something. He didn't know the specifics and the boy had never shown up to any of their meetings. He'd met the others...

This part of the mansion was unknown to him. That was fine by him, he wanted to get to know his way around here anyway. All the corridors were so wide and long, the rooms spacious and luxuriously furnished. Almost all of them very tastefully so. Red, a deep dark shade of it, was the dominant colour here.

'Sempaaaaaii.'

Tsuna's head rose instantly from where he'd been looking at the lavish carpet when a light-ish, young voice floated through a high archway further on.

'_Quit it already. Must you be so horny?_'

Tsuna couldn't make out a word that was said after "sempai", whoever it was, speaking in Italian. Intrigued by the droning, long-suffering tone of that voice, the heir approached, unconsciously making his footsteps lighter and soundless.

'_Ushishishi_.'

Suddenly very pale, Tsuna stopped dead in his tracks, cold droplets dripping down his spine. _That_ was one voice who's owner he'd hoped never to encounter again.

'_It's your own fault for being so cute and edible, frog-face_.'

The mad prince sounded intensely self-satisfied, even more so than usual and that was really something to take note off. And run quickly away from, only Tsuna was too intrigued to do so just yet. He didn't recognize the first voice and he wondered what sort of interaction the Bel-person would have with someone who _wasn't_ the guy his boss wanted dead most in the world.

'_That's precisely the sort of excuse expected from a paedophilic fake-prince such as yourself_, semp-_ah_-'

Curiously, the short teen tilted his head. That last noise had sounded interesting. It didn't sound like something that was supposed to be a word, but then again, Tsuna had no knowledge of most things linguistic.

A low sound came from the mysterious room and if he had to guess, he'd say the Bel-person had made it. It sounded distinctly self-satisfied again and the first person didn't seem likely to sound like that.

'_You know you like it very much_.' Was whispered. Then silence.

Tsuna's toes were practically curling with curiosity, self-preserving instincts warring with the need to _know_ for a while. Then he crept slowly closer, wondering to himself whether he would dare to chance a look around the archway once he got there.

'Sempai...'

'_Shishi, yes_?'

'...'

'_You do like it, don't you_?'

The voice was... well, if he had to describe it, he'd have to say that it reminded him most of a satisfied cat- sort of rumbling, _purring_. Weird.

'Sempai... _If you do this here_...'

'Hmm?'

'..._You know the little Vongola is going to walk in on us_.'

'_Shishishishishi_!'

Tsuna wished he could understand what they were saying. It was making his fingers and toes itchy, _literally_, to not know what fascinating things were going on in there between the creepy Bel and the mysterious as-of-yet-unknown person. For some reason, Tsuna's before-now-underdeveloped inquisitive side was surfacing something awful.

'_Come here, little toad. Be an exhibitionist, shishishi, it would do you good_.'

'_What do you mean,_ sempai? _You make it sound as though you don't frequently molest me in the hallways. You're such a freak. Fetishist_.

...Ow.'

'_I only do that when you want me to, and you know it. Quit pretending I'm raping you on a daily basis_.'

'_Right. With your stamina. A weekly basis at most_- owwww.'

'_The prince is a sex-god and you know it_.'

'_You are apparently very adamant about telling me things I "already know_", sempai. _That's a sign of insecurity and self-doubt, you know. Perhaps you should go into counselling like I suggest_- owww.

_Many times alre_- owwww.'

Tsuna was getting a little worried. He wasn't sure if he needed to be, though, what with the person's pained noises sounding so... not... really pained... but they were still "ow"-noises, so...

I mean, she was in there with the creepy prince! Who knew what that guy was doing to the poor, innocent girl...

But she really didn't _sound_ like she needed help or anything...

Tsuna was terribly confused.

'_Ah_- sempai-'

'_You can keep wiggling, but I'm not gonna stop anyway. Ushishishi, you're already ha_-'

'Seeeeeeempaaaaaaaaiiiii. _There's little kids around_.'

'_Ushishishi, I know_!'

'_Ew. Pervert_. _Pervert-prince. Pervert, fake_- ah!'

Okay, that was definitely a noise of pain (no, it wasn't). Tsuna fretted, wringing his fingers. He didn't dare look into the room to see what was going on now, too scared of the mad prince, but that girl-! He couldn't just stand here and do nothing! What if she was some innocent civilian girl that the sadistic prince had picked up off the streets to torture here, to be his victim! Oh no!

Aaahhh, did he really have to go in there and pick a fight with the scary blonde?

'_A-ahhh_... sempai... _You- don't- nnhh_... _stop it, you pervert_.'

Tsuna started to sweat. He was really going to do this, wasn't he? Oh god. He was really going to go in there and-

And save that girl! Nobody deserved to be tortured by that horrible person! Tsuna could (probably) take him, because he survived Xanxus, and... and... maybe they'd both live that way. He mentally groaned.

_I am so suicidal. _

Anyway, he'd jump in there, distract the prince, separate him from the girl if necessary and tell her to run for it, then keep him in the room for hopefully long enough to let her escape.

Tsuna took a deep breath, quickly saying his thanks and telling his mother and fami-_friends_ that he loved them.

'_F-Fuck_. Sempai. _Why do you always torture_ _**me**_.'

'_Ushishishi. Because you're the only one the prince wants_.'

'... _Careful there, sempai. That was almost romantic_.'

'_Of course it was, I'm the legitimate prince Charming_.'

'_Okay, that was just gross_.'

If the brunet hadn't been so busy pepping himself up, he would've been confused by the complete lack of discomfort or pain in the "girl's" voice.

_Alright. You can do it, Tsuna. Just go in there and save that girl. You can do it!_

Quickly (lest he lose what courage he'd managed to gather), he jumped around the corner and into the room, remembering belatedly that it would be handy to have his eyes open during a fight to the death with one of the Varia's elite assassin officers. His entire posture was tense and ready for the impending fight, he was standing on the balls of his feet and with his hands balled into fists as though they were already enveloped in his bright orange flame (good thing that he didn't remember that no dying will pills/gloves + Tsuna + Bel = a painful outcome).

Once he opened his wide, mildly terrified eyes though, he saw the most curious sight.

A girl with shoulder length green hair and bright, pretty green eyes, looking bored as fuck and standing diagonally in front of the blonde prince who he _had_ been expecting. Apart from the bit where he hadn't expected someone who looked like they had natural green hair, she also looked-

Well, actually, she _didn't_ look completely at ease with the mad prince, but she didn't look _un_easy either. In fact, she just looked like... nothing. Nothing. Like, the blonde was standing in her personal space, but she didn't even sense it or something. That's how empty her body language was. It was so strange.

Oh, and then there was the fact that she was wearing what looked a horrible lot like a Varia uniform, like the one Bel was wearing too. Meaning that she most likely wasn't an innocent civilian... but...

Oh god, what had he gotten himself into now?

'U-Uhm,' he stuttered, feeling incredibly uncomfortable with the two staring at him, one very flatly and the other smirking widely, but Tsuna tried his best not to look at the blonde, 'P-Please let her g-go! '

There was silence for a beat and the next moment the blonde prince had disappeared from Tsuna's immediate line of sight. This left the brunet confused, until he lowered his eyes and heard the insanely loud, gleeful cackling.

'USHISHIHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAAA-'

Tsuna's mouth fell open and his cheeks heated up like nobody's business. 'I-I thought- but- y-you were hurting her! ' He tried to defend himself, knowing that it was a lost cause but feeling like he had to at least stand up for himself. The insane laughter only got that much louder. The prince was in stitches. When Tsuna looked at the not-as-innocent-as-he'd-thought girl, her expression seemed to have gotten even flatter.

'-AAHAAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAA, SHISHISHISHISHIHIHIHIHI, HAHAHAHAHAAA-'

For the first time since Tsuna had heroically jumped to her apparently quite unneeded rescue, the green-haired girl spoke.

'_I'm going to kill you_.'

The prince was rolling around on the floor, thumping it with his open hand, and clutching himself in a sort of desperation. As Tsuna watched, he laboriously got up into a sitting position (needing a couple of tries) and clutched the girl's leg, wrapping both arms around it.

'Oh-Oh my G-God- SHISHISHISHI – d-d-d-damsel' he gasped out in Japanese, needing a considerable amount of effort to do it, 'd-dis-stress- UHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-' He fell off of her leg again, rolling around the floor gleefully once more.

'_I'm seriously going to kill you_, sempai.'

Tsuna's confusion at her words went ignored by both of them, though he suspected Bel was too caught up in hilarity to notice much of anything anymore. He started when the girl's flat, penetrating stare landed on him and she stared him straight in the caramel eyes, making him shiver uncomfortably.

She was sort of intimidating. Sort of really. Despite her emotionless face, Tsuna got the impression that she was angry. If not pissed off.

At him.

He shrank back.

'_I'm starting to feel like dropping my pants, just to show him I'm a guy_.'

The hysterical laughter suddenly cut off, leaving an eerie ringing silence in its wake. Tsuna instinctively held his breath and tried to be as unnoticeable as possible.

In one flowing motion, the blonde got up off the red carpet, seized the girl by her arms and worked her down to the ground. The brunet quickly ran around the low coffee table behind which they had gone down because of some retarded hero-syndrome that he had developed exactly six minutes and 43 seconds ago.

What he saw...

'_You are not allowed to drop your pants in front of anyone but me_.'

Bel covered the other's body with his own and from what Tsuna could see, he was-

Oh god!

When the blonde pulled back from giving the girl a deep, possessive kiss, he purred playfully: '_You're mine and mine alone, little frog_.'

'Y-You guys...' Tsuna tried to get in between.

An arm was slung around the prince's back, seemed to pull him back down. That was certainly where the blonde went.

With his cheeks on fire, Tsuna stumbled backwards until his back hit the wall, trying to put some decent distance between himself and... those two.

'_You're so possessive, _sempai_. What's that about_?'

'_It's not about possessiveness, frog, it's about reality. You're mine. May as well enjoy it, shishishi~_'

Tsuna tried not to watch when the two kissed again, a rather... ah, passionate display. He squeaked when the blonde's hand went down to the girl's- wait a second, weren't girls... supposed to be, y'know... _flatter_ down there? The heir squinted.

Oh. Yep. That was a rather definite-

Oh good _kami_.

_I'm way too hormonal for this. I can't be seeing this, oh god_...

The green-haired girl was a _boy_.

They were _both_, _guys_.

All of a sudden Tsuna felt an entirely different kind of hot and once he realized what was happening to him, he made another manly squeaking noise and covered his eyes, completely mortified.

Oh god, just because it were two guys didn't mean that he should immediately get- get- get- _aroused_ (he whispered the word in his mind)! He'd been fine while he thought- but now he was- but that shouldn't even matter, right! He hadn't been aroused before, so he shouldn't be now either! And neither of them was Xanxus so he shouldn't even be interested, _right_?! Oh _god_, what was this?!

All of this-this-this _physical_ shit all of a sudden!

'_Oh, shit, _sempai_, you're so good with your hands_...' Even to Tsuna, the quality to the breathy voice was unmistakably pleasured.

He didn't _understand_, but now that he knew the green-haired Varia was a _guy_, he was getting so... so... _tingly_ and hot all over and shit!

Oh god, _why_ did he have to have this response to Varia people?! Why not unknown strangers that he'd passed by in the street, whom he'd _never_ see again in his life?!

'_Oh! Fuck_, sempai, _yessss_,'

A shaking hand was tasked with keeping in any noises that might attempt to escape the conflicted brunet's mouth. The way the guy was _moaning_-

Oh, goodness...

_Oh holy_-!

Intrigued, Tsuna's caramel eyes had peeked through his fingers (another hand was tasked with the doomed attempt at retaining some innocence there).

There was _movement_. Against that _hand_ of the prince's, by the _hips_ of the guy_ laying spread out beneath him_, his legs spread out conveniently _in Tsuna's direction_, so he could perfectly see every wrinkle in the leather caused by that straining bulge, every stroke of those long tan fingers over that bulge of which Tsuna knew _exactly_ what it was.

He gasped out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Kami, he just knew that he was gonna get- _dreams_ and shit over this- guh.

Noooooo, so not good!

He shouldn't be seeing this! Before now, Tsuna had never- well, he had imagined what it might be like, two guys together, but he could never really, truly picture it. He could imagine kissing... Stroking perhaps. But, to him, with Hibari-san and Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto and Ryohei and _Reborn_ and, ho shit, _Mukuro_ around, well... it was too hard to imagine two guys being together in a more than friendly, less than nemesis, _sexual_ way. He didn't know what that sort of chemistry between two guys looked like.

There was a lot of chemistry here.

A lot.

A _steaming_ lot, if that was appropriate. Which of course it wasn't. He was losing his mind. Oh Kami.

If he didn't watch out (and he couldn't really, at the moment), then he'd soon start imagining broader, tanner fingers, doing what the mad prince's were doing now, and not on a green-haired guy, but on-

Scarred fingers. Broad hands. A face that managed to grin and smirk at the same time, wolf-like red eyes gleaming with mischievous intent.

A shudder rippled down Tsuna's spine and heat instantly pooled in his belly at a rather worrisome speed.

No, no, no... he shouldn't be thinking about this. Not at all. Nono. Na-ah.

Because the way Bel was slowly rubbing circles over his companion's crotch was not enticing at all or anything. You know, when pictured with those broader ha-

Oh _god_, Tsuna just made a noise out loud.

The green-haired- _guy_ snorted and-

Oh shit, _that_ was why sh-_he_ had been pissed at him! Because he'd called him a girl!

...He'd pissed off an unfamiliar Varia operative.

Somehow, with two distinctly attractive males making out three feet away from him, that seemed completely beside the point.

Talk about priorities.

Well, the unfamiliar pissed off Varia operative did seem a little busy with other things right now. Didn't seem like he needed to worry.

Right?

He hoped so.

'VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!'

'HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIII!'

Tsuna slumped to the floor after his immediate heart-attack, clutching his chest in desperation and shock, starting wildly when Squalo unleashed another bellow from the doorway.

'WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO DOING THAT IN FRONT OF THIS LITTLE RUNT FOR?! HOW MANY TIMES DO WE NEED TO TELL YOU WANKERS TO GET A FUCKING ROOOMMMM?!'

His ears ringing and eyes watering from the pain those ears were in, Tsuna clutched his head now and tried to look at the aggrieved silver-haired swordsman standing there a step into the room, waving his sword about like a mad axe-murderer and a banshee combined.

And what do you think?

Bel and the mysterious Varia hadn't even _paused_. Tsuna could hear the teal-haired man pant loudly in the silence after Squalo's voice, gasping for breath, those long pale fingers wrapping themselves tight into the shoulder parts of the blonde's coat.

They didn't even _care_?!

'VOOOOOIIII!'

But that was it, even for Squalo, who clearly was resigned about the proceedings after his initial attempt and who was now stalking over to his boss's tomato-red charge.

A sharky grin appeared on his face as he took in the state the nineteen-year-old was in. 'Heheeeeyy. Come on, runt. I'm sure this is supposed to be a PRIVATE SHOW!'

He hollered the last part at the couple in the middle of the room, who were still not stopping for anything and Tsuna marvelled at how unaffected they were. He wished he were that certain of himself!

Then he was caught by the scruff of his neck and hoisted up and he could try as much as he wanted, but the suspicious tenting in his own pants was for all the world to see. Thankfully, nobody was commenting on it yet.

'_Ushishishi_, this is educational for the kid, leave him be.'

Judging by the tone of his words, he could clearly care less about Tsuna's education and was only taking a jab at him. Asshole.

Not that Bel was looking away from the one he was with- he'd only paid attention enough to speak up, but he didn't care any further and graced his partner with his almost undivided attention once more (hey, Squalo and Tsuna could still try to pose a threat, and in that case the prince would have to intervene).

Tsuna's last gift from this encounter was the image of the green-haired male (and now that he knew it, that jaw was actually pretty square and those features were actually distinctly masculine) twisting himself up against both of the mad prince's tan hands, bucking without abandon and face lightly contorting with the pleasure while that wiry golden-blonde hung over him, an undeniably attractive yet highly unsettling smirk on his smooth face.

God dang, he was gonna have so many dreams about this. And he didn't even mind.

0o0o0o0o0

Squalo's cackling at him later was a little less appreciated, but the man was hardly confrontational about what had just transpired- sex appeared to be a completely okay topic here and nobody was unpleasant about it. It was another one of those discoveries about the Varia's actual nature that left Tsuna stunned and grateful to be in their presence. (For he can imagine all too well how his own guardians would have reacted to something like this, all in the same stage of life as he is and most of them just as uncertain about it- the squawking and uncertain testing of waters to see if anyone was gonna behave like sex was something to pretend to be disgusted about. And then, no doubt, Hibari would pop in and call it something like "useless fornicating", which would just make everything more embarrassing, especially with those stony features of his.)

* * *

><p>And that is how Tsuna met the combination of Bel and Fran, who like to have sex wherever the hell they are, absolutely not giving a damn whether that's a public space or a private one. Yup yup. They're madly in love~~ Haaah... *happy sigh* :3<p>

Soooo, please review! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D I'm so happpyyyy!

~Cheers!

Dirkje


	9. Chapter 9

HAI GAIS LOOK I'M BACK. YEAH. SO. WITH A NAME CHANGE, YEP THAT'S RIGHT.

I'm no sure how great this chapter is, but eh. Here we go! The next installment of Tsuna to Italy :3

Disclaimer: Yep, still applies.

Please enjoy!

* * *

><p>Chapter 9<p>

* * *

><p><em>Shopping isn't working out as planned...<em>

* * *

><p>Tsuna looked around him wildly, scanning his surroundings, the crowds that were swallowing him up. Panic was rising in his throat. 'S-Squalo-san?' He called, his voice already high-pitched with fright. He couldn't see Squalo, his only tie to safety in this unfamiliar town, anywhere. And to top it all off- his sense were telling him that he was in danger.<p>

A growing threat at that.

He kept looking around himself, desperately searching for the familiar long, silvery hair and finding nothing. Up on the rooftops- at his intuition's prodding he looked up and there, atop the fifteen stories high department stores, he barely spotted small figures. He couldn't make out what they were doing or what they were there for- if they weren't just, I dunno, staff cleaning or fixing the roof or something –but according to his intuition they were bad news.

He felt like he shouldn't stick around here. Even though leaving this area pretty much guaranteed that he wouldn't find Squalo or Squalo him, he had to leave.

He'd been separated from the highly-skilled Varia assassin purposefully.

Shit.

He felt the familiar rush of adrenaline streaming through his muscles and without another look up, Tsuna made his way through the crowd as quickly as possible, following his built-in sat nav to a (hopefully) safe place.

When he got to the edge of the crowd, he ducked into a much emptier, broad street, paved with round, white cobblestones.

It was here, away from the immediate distraction of the hundreds of shopping people in the busy city centre pressing into him, that he realized the gravity of his situation.

He didn't have anything with him- not his dying will pills or his gloves. Without Squalo, who spoke Italian and knew his way around, Tsuna was lost. On top of that, Squalo was the only one out of the two of them who could fight efficiently, not bothered by a lack of resources.

Shit.

To put it lightly.

Tsuna glanced at the tops of the buildings. Small figures, indiscernible because of the distance, seemed to be leaning over the edges. He wasn't sure if he was being paranoid or appropriately cautious when he thought they were following his movements.

It could have nothing to do with him, right? This was mafia-filled Italy after all, they could be after any poor schmuck on the streets.

A brief memory flashed before his mind's eye: Gokudera, dynamites already in between all of his fingers, staring down the opponents and glaring death at them. 'Don't worry Tenth. I'll blow them to hell.'

But Gokudera wasn't here right now and he had to do this alone. Tsuna ignored the sudden, strong feeling of homesickness and turned around. He continued down the broad street, walking a little faster than usual and trying not to pay attention to anything that would set him off in a panic. The patches of rambler roses climbing up the walls of many of the buildings passed him by without being noticed.

When his intuition told him to go right he took a right and continued down a more narrow street, blind eyes staring straight ahead. All his senses were focussed on finding out what he needed to stay alive. He couldn't run- he'd wear himself out long before shaking off the figures lining the rooftops.

They were still there. It was as though they'd been stationed on every building in the neighbourhood.

Staying as calm as he could, Tsuna walked down the streets, not doing anything more than following his gut for the time being. Was there anything more he _could_ do right now?

When after two whole blocks he still felt panicky and watched, Tsuna really started to worry.

This wasn't normal, right? They should've caught whoever they were after by now and no longer be around him, right?

Panic started to suffocate his heart.

Oh God, he was all alone. He had to do this alone while he couldn't even get into his dying will state! He was a sitting duck!

_If_ they were after him.

But he knew they were. He just knew. His gut had been telling him from the start, only he'd kept the panic at bay by telling himself they could be here someone else.

But they weren't.

Cold sweat made his hands clammy and made him feel chilled- or that was the fear.

What could he do against such a large group of people, no doubt Mafiosi who knew what they were doing?

He couldn't help it- the fear and the knowledge that there was virtually nothing he could do were too much. Helpless tears pricked in his eyes.

What could he do? What could he do?

He tried to remember- His first lesson with Bel, where he'd learnt to stand up for himself by taking action- learning how to swim (but not) with Squalo and later with Xanxus-

Oh, Xanxus. That beacon of strength and confidence.

Xanxus knew what to do in this situation, Tsuna had no doubt, but then, that man could call forth his flame at will.

Crying and being afraid wouldn't help him. Unless, of course, Tsuna thought with the grin of someone in a desperate situation, he could pass himself off as just a whimpering little boy who couldn't possibly be of interest to the local mafia.

Maybe. But he'd rather have some more plans, preferably ones that didn't leave him at the mercy of the doubt of those figures.

Tsuna seriously wanted to run. It still wouldn't help him though, so he didn't.

But man, did he want to.

* * *

><p>'Boss, I lost the brat.'<p>

'_You fucking piece of shit!_'

'I know, boss. I lost him on Piazza di Spese, five minutes ago.'

A snarl was his only answer.

'...boss. There's Galducci stalkers lining the rooftops.'

As he said this, Squalo's sword easily sliced through another of those men and he jumped onto the next roof without ever being seen.

'They're covering the entire area and I don't know where the brat is.'

The scariest sound left his boss then and the next moment the line was broken. Squalo pocketed his cell phone and grimly continued slicing through the line of men who dared to target their charge.

* * *

><p>Tsuna didn't know where to go anymore. His intuition told him that he was surrounded, that the figures had closed in on him and that he wasn't far from being toast. He figured the best place to find now would be a park: no buildings, no high vantage points for those figures to follow him.<p>

But was there a park near enough for him to find before those men decided to strike?

He was near hyperventilating from the panic, only just managing deep, slow breaths because he was trying hard for it.

A park, a park, an open-ish space with places to hide and no high buildings around it.

Was that even possible in this city?

He squealed in surprise when a figure stepped around the corner, dressed in casual enough clothes but with the unmistakable look of a Mafioso, or some other sort of criminal, but definitely not good news.

_Oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit_. Oh shit!

Panic couldn't be kept at bay anymore-

Tsuna broke out into a mad sprint, dashing past the man and down the street. The man stepped out onto the street, but didn't follow him with anything but his eyes. Tsuna's chest heaved, using up oxygen way too fast as he dashed towards the end of the street.

There were two of them there. One on each corner of the street.

His eyes huge and frightened- _He didn't have his dying will pills_ -he took the left street at the T-crossing and ran further, panic drowning out everything else at the feeling of eyes on his back. His worn sneakers his the bumpy cobblestones awkwardly, slipping every now and again on the stones that suck out higher than the rest.

What could he do? There wasn't anything he could do! He couldn't fight or call for help (How likely was anyone to help a scrawny foreign kid chased by the local mafia?), he would run out of energy soon enough and he didn't know anything about this town. Where should he go to be safe?

His breath whistling through his lips, Tsuna ducked into another unknown street.

* * *

><p>Blackened rooftops. Sizzling soot and glowing embers. A distorted, half molten sniper rifle.<p>

* * *

><p>He couldn't just keep running anymore. He had to hide somewhere, somewhere.<p>

Whimpering, overtaken by primal fear, Tsuna ducked into the relative shelter provided by the wall of a tall, elegant residence and the side of a very large garbage container. He pressed himself as far into the corner as possible. He knew this would not serve as sufficient protection but he needed something to hide against. The fear was overwhelming. Silent tears streaked down his face.

Tsuna's heart nearly stopped when he spotted a short (but still taller than him), broad-shouldered man walking towards him, an amiable smile on his face that made unpleasant shivers run down the teenager's spine.

Huddled against the container, Tsuna had no idea how small and weak he looked. His wide, red eyes and tear-streaked face peered up at the Galducci hitman with intense fright.

The Italian gave him a leisure wave and tapped his middle and pointer finger against the side of his head. With a heavy, but smooth accent, the man greeted the shaking brunet politely.

'Buon giorno, Tenth Vongola. I hope you are having a nice day.'

Tsuna shook, paralyzed with fear. The man's amicable approach was confusing, but didn't fool him. He knew what the man was here for.

'I would introduce myself, but it would be a waste.'

A quiet sound left Tsuna. The man gave him a compassionate smile.

'Don't worry. Yu are a child, I will make this quick.'

Tsuna couldn't do anything. He was simply too scared. Through the fog of fear he tried to will himself into moving, to do _something_, there had to be something he could do.

But he couldn't make his muscles do what he was trying to tell them to, to get up, to run past the man even if he wouldn't get very far.

Still smiling that genial smile, the man reached into his jacket and pulled out a sleek silver gun.

All Tsuna could think in that moment was that Reborn never used silver guns. He always used black ones. And they weren't as sleek as this one. He liked Reborn's guns better.

The muzzle of the fun was aimed at his face. Tsuna was pretty sure it was aimed between his eyes.

'Addio, Vongola Tenth. Better luck in your-'

Tsuna squeaked and shook his head from side to side, trying to shake the orange burn from his eyes. His mind whirred, trying to catch up to what was happening. He hadn't been shot, but something had definitely exploded just now.

Shaking, Tsuna opened the eyes he hadn't consciously closed but he still couldn't see anything. His retinas had been seared by whatever the fuck had just happened. He couldn't think, fear clouding his senses.

What had just happened?!

It took another few seconds before he could hear that his ears were ringing, and nothing else.

What was _going on_?!

He blinked furiously, trying to clear the colourful dots out of his vision.

He couldn't hear anything and he couldn't see anything.

With his heart in his throat, Tsuna carefully stretched out his hands and tried to feel his direct surroundings. The hard, cold surface of the garbage container met his fingers and he jerked back at the sudden touch. Somehow, he just knew that the man who had held a gun to his head wasn't there anymore.

Trying again. He felt the rough, sandpaper-like texture of the tiles beneath him- the pavement. A wayward can rolled away from his questing fingers and with a jolt of relief, Tsuna realized he could vaguely hear the tin clattering away over the tiles. He strained his ears- what was that rhythmic rushing noise? It was annoying because it got in the way of the other noises.

Only some time later did he realize it was his own breath, whistling past his lips, high, fast and desperate.

Vague coloured blobs filled his vision now, the brighter dots left by the explosion having faded out mostly. He still couldn't really _see_ anything, but it made him feel hopeful.

Something was alright. For some reason, the panic was ebbing away and leaving a calm in its wake. The fear was still very much present, but his subconscious had picked up on something comforting.

That wasn't enough to put him at ease, though, but as least it left room in head for thought.

More litter touched his fingers. He came upon the rubber soles of his own sneakers and more pavement. He kept blinking rapidly, hoping the blobs would become defined sooner.

There were hardly any noises, unless his hearing was deteriorating instead of getting better. The ringing and his own breathing weren't the only things heard anymore.

There were- voices!

Tsuna jolted and sat up straight, squeaking in terror when he hit his head off something, _hard_. After curling up into a tight, blind ball and regaining some feeling of safety, the reassuring thought that it had probably been the wall calmed him down.

_Okay_, he thought, badly shaken, _there were voices I recognized_.

The voices were low. ...And there were two of them. And yes, they were definitely familiar- and-

A hiccup left his raw throat and the next minute he was crying again, tears streaming down his face in gratitude and relief.

Oh, goodness.

Oh goodness.

It was Squalo and Xanxus.

He pressed his hands against his face and drew his knees to his chest, rocking back and forth slightly. The feeling of safety made all the things he'd been keeping at bay unconsciously so he could survive, crash down over him and he broke down.

He'd never been so alone before.

He heard the voices come closer. They seemed to be having some sort of casual conversation, talking to each other in calm tones and in Japanese.

Listening to it helped him hold on to the bit of calm he had left inside of him, so he clung to the sounds of their words.

Eventually, they had moved so close that his muddled senses felt them. One of them sat down in front of him, perhaps leaning against the container, and the other sat down next to him, never ceasing their conversation. Whatever they were saying was lost on Tsuna, but he thought he'd caught something about the weather.

Minutes ticked away. Tsuna never looked up. After a while, he could make out that Xanxus was beside him and Squalo was the one sitting in front of him.

* * *

><p>It was at least half an hour later that Tsuna relaxed enough to uncurl himself. The familiar, soothing sound of distant traffic filled his ears pleasantly alongside the voices of the two Italians who sat with him tirelessly. He blinked his caramel eyes against the sudden glare of sunlight and squinted. He could make out shapes and details again. His eyesight had fully recovered. There was still a faint ringing in his ears, but it was so minor that it couldn't dampen his joy- he was practically alright again. Sort of.<p>

When he shyly sought eye contact with Squalo, that was the first time one of them focussed their attention on him directly.

'Heeeey, little brat. How are you feeling?'

Tsuna was stumped briefly at the unexpected question. He hadn't expected them to sit there so calmly either, and certainly not all this time.

He tried to find words.

'...'

He tried again. 'I-I...

'I'm... fine.' He whispered. He knew he wasn't fine. That intense fear had done, changed something. The sudden realization that he would have to get up and walk down the street at some point filled him with more of that fear.

Going to school had been daunting to him for a very long time, but in a completely different way than what he was feeling now.

Xanxus' low bass gently buzzed next to him, but he still jumped, even though it wasn't all too sudden a sound.

'You're not fine, brat. But that's alright.'

Tsuna carefully looked up and to the side. Xanxus' crimson eyes weren't looking at him directly- he was looking at Squalo, but then calmly turned his head and looked him in the eye.

He was moving like that so he didn't startle the brunet. Xanxus knew the effect his gaze and/or attention generally had on the teenager and it wouldn't do to drive him further into the fear he was experiencing.

'We'll take you with us, back to base. You feel up to that?'

Tsuna floundered, lost because of the gentle way Xanxus was treating him. From Squalo, it was something he could see. It wasn't unthinkable.

With Xanxus, it was totally unthinkable.

But he was doing it anyway.

Did he feel up to going back... home? It felt like it was home right now, the Varia base. It was odd, but he really was starting to feel like it was his home, was starting to think about it that way.

He was glad for that.

But it didn't make him feel any more like moving. He did want to be back home, though, very badly. He wanted to hide there, in its safety.

'I-I' He tried to talk to them, tell him that he felt that way, but he didn't want to talk.

The desire to disappear was bigger. Louder.

Lost and embarrassed, Tsuna slowly ducked his head back into his knees and wrapped his arms around his shins.

There was silence for a short moment, then Xanxus spoke up.

'Let us take care of you. We'll take you back, you can hide into me.'

What, what?

Take care of him? _Hide into Xanxus?_

Sensing his confusion, Squalo took over. 'We know what this is like, little brat. It's alright to just let us handle things. You don't have to understand what's going on.'

Tsuna peeked over the top of his knees at Squalo. He gave him a sharp, crooked grin, the familiar unwavering gleam in his grey eyes comforting.

He nodded, lowering his eyes back to his knees.

'Heeeeey, good! Boss'll carry you.'

Xanxus made an agreeing noise.

'U-Uhm. Okay.'

Then a few minutes of very calm, slow manoeuvring ensued. When Tsuna was safely tucked into Xanxus' strong arms, they and Squalo took off. Tsuna had his face turned into the man's broad chest and felt incredibly warm- he was being carried bridal style, Xanxus' higher than average body heat enveloping him and making him feel safer than any amount of blankets would be able to do. He couldn't see where they were going and that was exactly fine by him. Not seeing made it easy to pretend he wasn't anywhere, that he was safe. The knowledge that Xanxus and Squalo, two of the top five strongest people he knew, were taking care of him was immensely comforting. He dreaded the moment he'd have to take care of himself again. Alone.

The mere thought made terror and homesickness grip his heart and throat and the young brunet (still so inexperienced) clutched the Varia boss's white dress shirt, twisting it between his fingers. He shook, but wasn't aware of it.

'You'll be alright, runt.' The vibration in Xanxus' chest startled him, but this time he settled down again soon. 'Just let go of it. You don't have to be able to deal with this shit.'

It was true, of course. Tsuna had fought his fair share of fights, sure, but never alone or unprepared. He'd always known they were coming ahead of time. He hadn't been taught how to do this so how could he be expected to know? He was training to become a mafia boss, he wasn't one yet.

And even then, he wouldn't suddenly (magically) be able to deal with everything.

It was alright that he wasn't able to defend himself. It wasn't even shameful. And that's what Squalo and Xanxus had been trying to tell him when they were sitting there next to that dumpster.

Impractical, perhaps, haha, but there was no shame in that.

It was alright.

It was also amazing, that Squalo and Xanxus had somehow dredged up the necessary patience to deal with him so kindly. It was what he needed- Tsuna suspected that that was the only reason they were doing it. Cussing the inexperienced teenager further into a panic attack wouldn't help anything, so there was that. It was still unbelievable, though. Felt so surreal.

But then, everything did right now.

He did hope that the Varia members wouldn't make fun of him for this.

Unaware that he had just relaxed completely and already solved the foundations of what had been causing his panic attack, Tsuna pressed his face more comfortably into his tutor's artfully wrinkled dress shirt.

He smelled really nice, he noted with glee (still oblivious to the clarity and space that had returned to his mind, since the fear and panic had left). He was happy that he got to be so close to Xanxus. Lucky! His heart beat a little faster when he thought of the facts that Xanxus had rescued him, _and_ was being so caring and gentle (no matter that part of that was that he had to be- Xanxus knew how these things worked and he didn't want to deal with a brat more traumatized than absolutely unavoidable- so Tsuna was indeed lucky).

A giddy part of him supplied that that was totally worth what he'd just been through.

Tsuna spent the rest of his trip back home as happy as any lovesick teenager in their crush's arms could be.

* * *

><p>Xanxus and Squalo exchanged looks while they ranjumped over the concrete canopy of the city. They hadn't missed the sudden relaxation of their charge.

Their looks were exasperated.

This kid seemed to bounce back in an unprecedented manner.

Good for him.

The trip back was comfortably silent.

The districts neighbouring the shopping district, now very much void of Galducci men, were left behind slightly charred.

The Ninth would hear of the Galducci's involvement in the attempted assassination of the Tenth the moment they got back to base.

* * *

><p>To be Continued~<p>

AAAaaaannnddd that's that for now!

HAHAAA! Didn't expect me to hit you with plot, did you! :D haha, me either~ :P I'll tell you now- and this might get confusing, I don't know, but I won't be focussing solely on plot from here on out. There will be chapters with more plot and chapters with less of it, chapters lacking it completely and chapters that are nothing but. I don't want to skip cute romancing and carefree more romancing- just to get a cool story full of plot up. I want this to be fun, so every now and then Tsuna might bounce back a lot more magically from things that perhaps ought to leave him more traumatized than they will. And every now and then you might think (again, I don't know your thoughts) 'weren't they sort of busy with people trying to assassinate Tsuna?' which- no. They're busy being fluffy bunnies. That's because I want this to be a happy and fun story as much as possible. 'Sides, that's canon. Tsuna _always_ bounces back magically.

Please let me know what you think! I'd love to hear about it if you've loved it! :3

Bye~! Kiwi Erin


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